For thermographers, escorts are defined as “an electrical escort who is familiar with the site and the electrical equipment to be surveyed,” and someone who will “remove and replace all panel covers exposing all electrical connections and open any MCC bucket doors and take needed amp readings.”
Also noted in this description is the fact that “Working with live electrical assets is considered hot work and the electrical escort shall have training and experience in this type of work.”
There have been times where, after getting out of bed at 3 a.m., I need to be at the airport at 4:00-4:30 a.m. for a 5:30 a.m. flight for an arrival time of noon at the work site. Factor in an inspection on a smaller, light industrial plant, estimated to take four hours, and a returning flight back the same day at 6:00 p.m. – sounds like fun! What should be a quick job, getting me home by midnight, quickly changes when I met the supervisor of the plant maintenance department.
Sound familiar at all?
It goes downhill from there, the supervisor has no idea what you are here to do, the word never having made it down from the main office. You explain to the maintenance department supervisor what your mission is and who your contact is to only hear “That (you can fill in the blank) has no authority to schedule anything in my department! But we will see what we can do.” The supervisor goes out and finds the lead man to get you somebody to take you around the plant. The lead man reports he has everyone putting out a proverbial fire across the plant except the new guy. Guess who you are going to get for your “qualified” escort?
Ideally the qualified expert should be the lead man as he has the most knowledge of the plant and where everything is. But unfortunately, sometimes you are going to get the new guy. If you’re lucky, he is an electrician that has been there long enough to at least know where most of the electrical equipment is and how to open it.
This may seem like it would be the exception, but this happens more often than I care to think about. What to do? You can’t just go home and hope the site gets its act straight and reschedules the inspection with a qualified escort.
What I try to do is call the contact number that is given and try to talk to the electrical lead man and carefully explain the following:
a) When I am going to be there
b) What an inspection entails
c) What is going to be needed as far as an escort
Making this preemptive call ensures there are no surprises for either of us. The thing to remember is the individual that sets up the job is most likely someone from the main office. He or she may not know what is needed to complete the work that is going to be done, or assumes that maintenance department knows what will be needed. So, cover your bases. A quick phone call to get everyone on the same page can save you a lot of time and frustration!