OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14400261

E GI V,ELEC INSULATION,ELECTRICAL,REVERSE POLARITY,CORD SET,ELECTROCUTED,LADDER

1985-07-31T00:00:00

Event: E GI V,ELEC INSULATION,ELECTRICAL,REVERSE POLARITY,CORD SET,ELECTROCUTED,LADDER
Linked inspection: No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number: 14400261
Report ID: 626300

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - CONTACT WITH CONDUCTOR THRU LADDER

Investigation abstract

A 24-year-old employee was standing on a metal ladder that was next to a buildin g. The ladder was resting on a 30.5-meter-long (100-foot-long) extension cord se t supplying electric power to a Makita electric drill. Due to reversed polarity, the neutral conductor in the cord was energized at 120 volts. The sharp edge of the metal ladder penetrated the insulation on the extension cord and contacted the neutral conductor. This, in turn, energized the ladder. The employee was ele ctrocuted when his hand touched the structural metal frame of the building.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 24 M

Nature of injury
10

Part of body
4

Event type
13

Source
15

Occupation code
999

Human factor
1

Environmental factor
13

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.