OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14342679
E GI III,OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,TREE LIMB,ELECTROCUTED,TREE TRIMMING
Event description
ELECTRIC SHOCK - CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE
Investigation abstract
WORKING FOR AN ELECTRIC UTILITY, A THREE-PERSON TREE-TRIMMING CREW WAS TRIMMING THE GROUND, UPON INSTRUCTION OF THE FOREMAN, PULLED THE ROPE, WHICH PASSED THRO UGH THE TOP OF THE TREE. AT THE SAME TIME, THE FOREMAN STARTED TO CUT UNDERNEATH THE LIMB. THE LIMB WAS PULLED INTO THE POWER LINE. THE FOREMAN RECEIVED AN ELEC TRIC SHOCK, PERHAPS BY DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE LINE, WHICH CAUSED HIM TO LOSE HI S BALANCE AND FALL. HIS FALL WAS BROKEN BY THE SAFETY BELT AND LINE. HOWEVER, HE HAD BEEN ELECTROCUTED. BURN MARKS WERE FOUND ON HIS RIGHT SHOULDER AND LEG. TREES NEAR OVERHEAD POWER LINES. THE CREW FOREMAN WAS ABOUT 30 FEET ABOVE THE GR OUND, SECURED IN A LARGE TREE BY A ROPE AND SAFETY BELT. THE ROPE WAS SECURELY T IED TO THE TREE. A LIMB CAME OFF THE TRUNK OF THE TREE AND FELL OVER THE TOP OF ONE OF THE 7620-VOLT POWER LINES. (THE LIMB OVER THE POWER LINE WAS ABOUT 7 TO 8 FEET ABOVE THE LINE AND BEYOND IT BY ABOUT 3 TO 4 FEET, WITH BRANCHES AND LEAVE S STILL ATTACHED.) THE FOREMAN BEGAN CUTTING AWAY BRANCHES, FIRST BY HANDSAW, TH EN BY CHAINSAW, THEN BY HANDSAW AGAIN. HE WAS USING THE HANDSAW TO TRIM THE LIMB OVER THE POWER LINE. THE FOREMAN TIED THE PULL ROPE TO A LIMB. THE EMPLOYEES ON
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 22 M
- Nature of injury
- 10
- Part of body
- 29
- Event type
- 13
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 494
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 8
- 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.