105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14341754

OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,ELECTROCUTED,LADDER,METAL POLE,METAL LADDER,UNTRAINED,E GI IC

Event
OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,ELECTROCUTED,LADDER,METAL POLE,METAL LADDER,UNTRAINED,E GI IC
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14341754
Report ID
418800

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE THRU FLAGPOLE

Investigation abstract

A LABORER WAS STANDING ON A 22-FOOT ALUMINUM LADDER, CHANGING A FLAG ATTACHED TO A 6-FOOT FLAGPOLE THAT WAS ATOP ANOTHER TALLER POLE. THE FLAGPOLE WAS ADJACENT TO A 7600-VOLT OVERHEAD POWER LINE, WHICH WAS LOCATED AT A HEIGHT ABOUT THE SAME AS THAT OF THE FLAG. THE EMPLOYEE LIFTED THE 6-FOOT POLE AND FLAG OUT OF THE HO LDER. A GUST OF WIND BLEW THE FLAG, CAUSING THE EMPLOYEE TO LOSE CONTROL OF THE FLAGPOLE. HE CONTINUED TO HOLD THE FLAGPOLE AS IT FELL INTO THE OVERHEAD POWER L INE. THE EMPLOYEE WAS ELECTROCUTED. THE ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION INFORMATION INCLU DED WITH THE REPORT INDICATED THAT THE EMPLOYEE HAD NOT RECEIVED SUFFICIENT TRAI NING IN THE HAZARDS OF CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINES.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 35 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    13
    Source
    15
    Occupation code
    889
    Human factor
    10
    Environmental factor
    17
    Hazardous substance
    8870
    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.