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 #14440614

OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,ELECTROCUTED,STREETLIGHTING,E C,EXCAVATOR,UTILITY POLE

Event
OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,ELECTROCUTED,STREETLIGHTING,E C,EXCAVATOR,UTILITY POLE
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14440614
Report ID
1032500

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE THRU LIGHT POLE

Investigation abstract

A THREE-PERSON CREW WAS USING A CRAWLER EXCAVATOR TO DIG HOLES FOR AND SET STREE E POLE BY HAND WHEN IT CONTACTED AN OVERHEAD POWER LINE. HE WAS ELECTROCUTED. TLIGHTING POLES AT A PLANT. THEY DUG THE 7-FOOT-DEEP HOLES, AND THEN USED A SLIN G ATTACHED TO THE EXCAVATOR BUCKET TO SET THE 40-FOOT-LONG WOODEN POLES INTO THE HOLES. EACH POLE HAD A COPPER GROUND WIRE RUNNING THE LENGTH OF THE POLE AND AT TACHED TO AN ALUMINUM GROUND ROD. THE GROUND WIRE EXTENDED 1 FOOT BEYOND THE TOP OF THE POLE, AND THE GROUND ROD EXTENDED 1 FOOT BEYOND THE BOTTOM OF THE POLE. THE CREW HAD BEEN SETTING ONE POLE AT A TIME; HOWEVER, THEY DECIDED TO RIG TWO P OLES TO THE EXCAVATOR BUCKET AT ONE TIME. THEY SET ONE OF THE TWO POLES, THEN BE GAN TO WALK THE SECOND ONE TO THE NEXT HOLE. ONE OF THE EMPLOYEES WAS GUIDING TH

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 19 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    13
    Source
    27
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    11
    Environmental factor
    8
    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.