104,543Records 70,659Employers 84,666Hospitalizations 27,563Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-09-30
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14257182

OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,ELECTROCUTED,LADDER,E C,METAL LADDER,PAINTER

Event
OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,ELECTROCUTED,LADDER,E C,METAL LADDER,PAINTER
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14257182
Report ID
453710

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE THRU LADDER

Investigation abstract

A PAINTING CREW WAS PAINTING THE EXTERIOR WALL OF A FACTORY. THE FACTORY WAS ADJ ACENT TO A STREET AND A 15.8-KILOVOLT OVERHEAD POWER LINE. THE DISTANCE FROM THE POWER LINE TO THE WALL VARIED FROM 19 FEET TO 11 FEET. THE CREW WAS WORKING FRO M A 40-FOOT ALUMINUM EXTENSION LADDER THAT WAS EXTENDED APPROXIMATELY 36 FEET. D URING THE COURSE OF THE WORK, THE WIND BECAME GUSTY, AND THE EMPLOYER DECIDED TO STOP THE JOB FOR THE DAY. AS THE LADDER WAS BEING LOWERED, A GUST OF WIND CAUSE D THE MEN TO LOSE CONTROL OF THE LADDER. THE LADDER FELL AWAY FROM THE WALL AND CONTACTED THE ENERGIZED POWER LINE. ONE EMPLOYEE WAS STANDING ON THE GROUND AND HOLDING THE LADDER AS IT CONTACTED THE ENERGIZED LINE. HE WAS ELECTROCUTED.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 30 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    1
    Event type
    12
    Source
    15
    Occupation code
    579
    Human factor
    6
    Environmental factor
    18
    Hazardous substance
    8870
    Task assigned
    1

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.