Dear Editor,
So lightning has struck again, this time the new Mabaruma Radio Station (SN, July 21). I have written before in your letter columns about lightning. This time I would like to ask if the radio station was properly earthed or grounded.
There are two reasons for connecting your system to earth ground.
- The operational reason: to stabilize the voltage to earth during normal operation (think of earth like an anchor to the system voltage)
- The safety reason: to limit the voltage rise created by lightning, line surges, and unintentional contact with higher voltages.
I put the operational reason first because that is the de facto priority in this country where lives are said to be valued, but cheapness and slackness or ignorance reigns.
I was awaiting the findings of the investigation of the fire at the Drop-in Centre, which was described as electrical, but I don’t expect that I will be privy to any details. I would really like to know if the circuit breakers were properly rated and the building properly grounded. Does the Fire Service have sufficient independent expertise to investigate the causes of electrical fires? Or would they call for assistance from the government electrical inspectorate, the very people who would have signed off on the wiring of the building?
This reminds me, whatever the findings, that many buildings are not properly grounded, among them too many government buildings. So how do these buildings pass the inspectorate? The answer has to be in corruption.
The previous government inherited a dysfunctional system and felt they achieved something by feeding, clothing and housing where their predecessors had set the bar and failed. This show of achievement was deficient in standards except maybe for the political elite and those who made money from patronage. Their lack of transparency became, as in the time of their predecessors, well known to the small Guyanese population through word of mouth, and justified the small man ‘mekkin a livin’ by any means. Integrity and morality became unaffordable in their eyes, and this is what they effectively taught their children.
Electrical contractors are only one of a set of technical people affected by this morality. Many of them simply wire buildings to get electricity. The cash strapped builder is happy to pay for less wiring because they and their electrical contractors do not understand the importance of grounding.
Those who understand its importance do not get the job because their prices are higher. Some time within the last decade I was asked by an officer in a top government educational institution to check out why expensive instruments used by expensive consultants were not giving a green light. This is generally an indicator of faulty wiring. To my astonishment, there was simply no ground! This (small) consultancy service was performed for free for an educated education official, one of a class of persons whose integrity would probably disqualify them from having anything to do with government finances. And perish the thought of me getting the job for wiring or inspecting a government building!
Yours faithfully,
Alfred Bhulai
