OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14448047
ELECTRICAL,E GI VII,ELECTROCUTED,ELECTRICAL WORK,TRANSFORMER
Event description
ELECTRIC SHOCK - CONTACT WITH EXPOSED LIVE PARTS
Investigation abstract
TWO LARGE ELECTRIC TRANSFORMERS AT A HIGH SCHOOL HAD BEEN REPLACED IN THE SUMMER RMER WAS OPENED AND THE LOW VOLTAGE DISCONNECT WAS ALSO OPENED. THE PANEL OVER T HE TAPS WAS REMOVED, AND THE FOREMAN CHANGED THE TAPS TO A DIFFERENT POSITION TO LOWER THE VOLTAGE. THE POWER WAS RESTORED. A CUSTODIAL ENGINEER WAS HOLDING A L IGHT FOR THE FOREMAN. WHEN THE POWER WAS RESTORED, THE FIRE ALARM SYSTEM WAS ACI TVATED. THIS WAS NORMAL. THE CUSTODIAL ENGINEER WENT TO THE OFFICE TO SHUT OFF T HE FIRE ALARM. A SUPERVISOR ARRIVED FOR WORK AROUND 6:55 AM. HE MET THE CUSTODIA L ENGINEER IN THE HALLWAY. BOTH MEN WENT TO THE NORTH TRANSFORMER ROOM AND FOUND THE FOREMAN LYING INSIDE THE METAL ENCLOSURE, NEAR THE SOUTH END, WHERE HE HAD CHANGED THE TRANSFORMER TAPS. HE WAS SEMI-CONSCIOUS. HE LATER DIED. OF 1984, BECAUSE THE FORMER ONES WERE CONTAMINATED WITH PCB. THE HIGH VOLTAGE C ABLE BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH TRANSFORMERS HAD BEEN CHANGED ON DECEMBER 2, 19 84. BECAUSE ELECTRIC BALLASTS AND OTHER ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT IN THIS SCHOOL WERE B URNING OUT, THE ELECTRIC UTILITY COMPANY WAS CALLED TO INVESTIGATE. THE UTILITY COMPANY MEASURED THE SECONDARY VOLTAGE TO BE BETWEEN 126 AND 129 VOLTS, AND THIS HIGHER THAN NORMAL VOLTAGE WAS CAUSING THE PROBLEM. THE GENERAL FOREMAN OF AN E LECTRICAL CONTRACTING COMPANY ARRIVED ON DECEMBER 5 TO CHANGE THE TAPS IN THE NO RTH TRANSFORMER. HE ARRIVED AROUND 6:30 AM. THE MAIN DISCONNECT FOR THIS TRANSFO
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 54 M
- Nature of injury
- 10
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 6
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 555
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 18
- Hazardous substance
- 8870
- 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.