OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14251771
DUKE POWER COMPANY - GREENSBORO DISTRICT
GREENSBORO, NC·
Event description
ELECTRIC SHOCK - DIRECT CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE
Investigation abstract
AN EMPLOYEE WAS WORKING ALONE ON A TROUBLE CALL AT A RESIDENCE. THE SERVICE DROP CONDUCTOR CONTACTED THE EMPLOYEE ON THE WRIST. IT WAS ASSUMED THAT THE CONDUCTOR WENT DOWN INSIDE THE GLOVE, AS THE PEOPLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD HAD SEEN HIM WEAR ING HIS GLOVES PREVIOUSLY. NO BLANKET HAD BEEN PLACED OVER THE CABLEVISION OR TE LEPHONE CABLE THAT SHARED THE POLE. ADDITIONALLY, THE COMPANY STATED THAT THE EM PLOYEE WAS WORKING AT HIS NORMAL CLASSIFICATION FOR THE TIME OF DAY, BUT THE EMP LOYEE WAS CLASSIFIED AS A METER TECHNICIAN, NOT A LINEMAN. FROM THE HOUSE TO THE UTILITY POLE HAD SOME LIMBS ON IT, AND THIS HAD INTERRUPT ED POWER TO THE HOUSE. THERE WERE 10 DWELLINGS ON THE DISTRIBUTION LINE FEEDING THE HOUSE. THE DISTRIBUTION TRANSFORMER FOR THE LINE WAS 800 FEET FROM THE HOUSE , AROUND A CORNER. AFTER CLIMBING THE POLE, THE EMPLOYEE APPARENTLY DISCONNECTED THE 120-VOLT SERVICE DROP AND LOWERED IT TO REMOVE THE LIMBS. AFTER HE REMOVED THE LIMBS, HE WENT BACK UP THE POLE TO RECONNECT THE SERVICE DROP. AS HE WAS WOR KING ON THE POLE, HE WAS ELECTROCUTED. NO ONE SAW THE ACCIDENT TAKE PLACE, BUT I T WOULD APPEAR FROM THE BURN MARKS THE EMPLOYEE RECEIVED THAT THE BARE END OF A
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 40 M
- Nature of injury
- 10
- Part of body
- 2
- Event type
- 13
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 533
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 18
- Task assigned
- 2
Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.