onishaw

My understanding is that the point of either is to prevent some jamoke from coming along while someone is working on the appliance and saying "Hey this breaker is off" and flipping it on. If line-of-sight, the person about to be zapped will say "Hey idiot, step away from that disconnect and go find someone else to kill." If lockout, the idiot would have to get (small) bolt cutters to remove the lock to turn the breaker back on, hopefully causing him/her to say "Oh, someone must really want this turned off since they locked it off." Not quite as foolproof as it requires actually placing the lock. Don't know if this is the real reason or urban legend.

New guy getting started in Oregon. In the process of licensing and certifying with a couple questions... 1) For licensing, are there any advantages or benefits to licensing as a general over specialty contractor (residential). I know the coverage requirements are higher so I assume that specialty would do the trick, but I have made enough assumptions in my life to have learned what "assume" makes out of "u" & "me". (I do not forsee doing anything in the future that would involve "working two or more trades on one job".) 2) For the bond and liability insurances, I am planning on obtaining just the required levels. On E&O, the common offerings seem to be $300k, $500k and $1mil. Any comments on reasonable coverage in today's world? I have immensely enjoyed following this FORUM during my training, interning and testing. You have all been a great help (unknowingly) and I am grateful. I hope to be hanging my shingle by the end of the month. I presume that's when the real training starts.