Ionic Protector Tube
As your walking around a job site evaluating the Hazards that exist one that you should be especially mindful of is overhead power lines. This edition of AWC we are featuring the New Ionic Protector Tube. The base section of this Pole has been given an electrocution safety rating up to 1000 volts AC and 1500 volts DC and is an excellent option when you have identified electricity in your Job Hazard Analysis.
Unfortunately in the United States several deaths have occurred from an operator coming in contact with electricity while performing Water Fed pole work. While many of the deaths were from high lines with voltage higher than the safety rating of the new Protector Section we commend Ionic for their diligence in this matter of electricity and helping to give workers safer options in the work place.
Applications:
Electrical lines coming into residential homes in the US are generally under 1000 volts so having the Ionic Protector Base is an excellent protection.
An area that is growing and might be overlooked is solar panel cleaning. While the wattage is D.C. owners should not assume that electrocution cannot occur while working on solar panels. Using the Ionic Protector provides a measure of protection.
A nice feature also is that a current owner of an Ionic pole doesn't have to buy an entire new pole. The Protector sections will fit the Grafter, Glyder, Swift and the newly released Vertigo poles from Ionic.
While the Protector Sections do provide a measure of protection that alone shouldn't embolden any operator to assume that they can't still be electrocuted especially when working around voltages higher than what the pole is rated. You might think about electrical pliers as they have a rubber coating but serious harm can still occur if you grab 220 volts with them. The same is true of the Protector Section, it gives a measure of protection up to a rated voltage but that doesn't mean that risks have been eliminated. Nonetheless today it is the only protection of its kind and that is why we featured it in this edition of Tools of the Trade.
