Amazon could soon be on the hook for safety of third-party products it sells and ships — Government order could classify it as a distributor, potentially exposing it to more legal claims

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 509 points –
wsj.com

Amazon could soon be on the hook for safety of third-party products it sells and ships — Government order could classify it as a distributor, potentially exposing it to more legal claims::undefined

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And that "practical use" kills linemen.

I think the correct way to jump is to flip your main so you're disconnected. I'm probably talking out of my ass tho.

I don't own a generator nor have the need. Just basing this on what I've seen in the wild.

The more correct way is to install a switch that does that, so you can be connected to the grid or to the generator, not both. It's basically what you said, but it doesn't trust users to remember to do it correctly

Does such a switch exist?

It does, there's even automatic ones so you can have the generator kick in after a second or two without power and shut off when the grid comes back up

I watched a video on it a week or two ago, I think the general term would be an interlock

Yes, in theory that would work. But they actually make main disconnect switches for this in the event that the main breaker fails. It's a mandatory install in all grid tie electrical generator systems (including solar).

I keep hearing this as the "Reason" but never backed by anything that makes sense. I've never needed to jump my generator to my house, and don't particularly care to even in the event of "disaster" so don't attack me like I'm doing this...

If you successfully suicide jumper your generator to the grid. Wouldn't the collective load of all your neighbors stuff kill the generator? (eg bog it down to the point that it turns off? [if it has no breaker]) Also wouldn't the load of literally your whole neighborhood trip off the breaker in the generator(or in the panel)? Doesn't this leave it as the only "risk" is if you happen to turn on the generator as the lineman themselves are specifically holding a live wire with an active connection to a ground/neutral before the previous stuff can happen? Or only if they happen to isolate you and then you turn on the genny after? Wouldn't you agree that this last thing would be an incredibly rare?

And I can never find an article where a cable was determined to be the cause of an electrocution...

Now because the internet is the internet... I'm not advocating for using suicide cables... There's much easier reasons why this is a terrible idea (exposed live contacts being literally the primary one). But I just never understood the "lineman" argument with all the stuff that would have to go specifically "right" in order to do that kind of harm to a lineman.

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