OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14447494
OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,POWER LINE WORKER,POTENTIAL GRADIENT,E PTD,ELEC UTILITY WORK,SYSTEM GROUNDING,DROWN
Event description
ELECTRIC SHOCK - CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE THRU POWER POLE
Investigation abstract
A LINEMAN WITH AN ELECTRIC UTILITY COMPANY RESPONDED TO A TROUBLE CALL DURING A E FELL INTO 2 FEET OF WATER AND DROWNED. SEVERE WEATHER PERIOD. HE WAS TO DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF A POWER OUTAGE TO TWO RE SIDENCES AND MAKE ANY NECESSARY REPAIRS. WORKING ALONE, THE EMPLOYEE HAD TO CHAN GE THE FUSE IN AN ELECTRICAL CUTOUT. THE LINEMAN WAS WORKING FROM THE GROUND USI NG A 40-FOOT FIBERGLASS EXTENDO ROD (HOT-STICK). THE AREA WAS WET FROM HEAVY RAI NS. AS THE EMPLOYEE WAS CHANGING THE FUSE, THE ENERGIZED PHASE CONDUCTOR INADVER TENTLY MADE CONTACT WITH A METAL BRACKET ON THE POLE CAUSING CURRENT FROM THE 13 ,200-VOLT CONDUCTOR TO GO TO GROUND THROUGH THE GROUND WIRE ON THE POLE. THE CUR RENT ENERGIZED THE AREA AROUND THE POLE AND RENDERED THE EMPLOYEE UNCONSCIOUS. H
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 29 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 41
- Occupation code
- 577
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 18
- 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.