OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14341788

BACKHOE BOOM,BURN,CLOTHING,OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,BOOM,E C,ELECTRIC SHOCK,BACKHOE

1988-08-15T00:00:00

Event: BACKHOE BOOM,BURN,CLOTHING,OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,BOOM,E C,ELECTRIC SHOCK,BACKHOE
Linked inspection: No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number: 14341788
Report ID: 418800

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK & BURN - CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE THRU BOOM

Investigation abstract

A PIPELINE WAS BEING INSTALLED PARALLEL TO AN EXISTING 135-KILOVOLT OVERHEAD POW ER LINE. ONE OF THE EMPLOYEES ON THE CREW WAS HOLDING A STEEL PIPE, GUIDING IT I NTO THE TRENCH. THE BOOM OF THE TRAC HOE SUSPENDING THE PIPE CONTACTED THE OVERH EAD LINE, WHICH WAS ONLY ABOUT 15 FEET AWAY. THE EMPLOYEE RECEIVED AN ELECTRIC S HOCK AND BURNS OVER 90 PERCENT OF HIS BODY. HE DIED OF COMPLICATIONS OF ELECTRIC SHOCK ON SEPTEMBER 5, 1988, 21 DAYS AFTER THE ACCIDENT.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 21 M

Nature of injury
5

Part of body
4

Event type
6

Source
15

Occupation code
999

Human factor
1

Environmental factor
8

Hazardous substance
8880

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.