OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14298541
MANSFIELD & SONS, INC.
CORDOVA, MD·
Event description
ELECTRIC SHOCK & BURN - CONTACT WITH ENERGIZED PARTS
Investigation abstract
Two septic maintenance workers were pumping out a 9475-liter (2500-gallon) under nk. As the first employee was removing the metal tool from the septic tank, the handle of the tool contacted the energized parts on the center transformer and c aused an electrical fault. This employee received an electric shock and sustaine d third-degree burns on both hands and second-degree burns behind both legs and on his right buttock. The other employee was also burned by the ensuing electric arc. He sustained third-degree burns on the backside of his right leg and first - and second-degree burns elsewhere. The employees were hospitalized for their i njuries. Neither employee was qualified to enter the transformer enclosure. ground septic tank. They were sitting on the upper part of a concrete manhole lo cated inside an enclosure containing three 25-kilovolt (14.4-kilovolt, phase-to- ground) transformers. The enclosure was intended to permit access only by qualif ied persons, and the energized parts on the backs of the transformers were only 0.9 meters (3 feet) from the manhole. One of the two employees was using a hand- held metal tool with a 1.9-meter-long (6.2-foot-long) metal handle to break up t he solid contents of the tank. The other employee was holding onto a 76-millimet er-diameter (3-inch-diameter) rubber suction hose that had been placed in the ta
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 21 M
- Nature of injury
- 10
- Part of body
- 23
- Event type
- 13
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 585
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 13
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 18 M
- Nature of injury
- 10
- Part of body
- 12
- Event type
- 13
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 585
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 13
- Task assigned
- 1
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