OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14456172
ELECTRIC ARC,OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,CUTOUT SWITCH,GROUND FAULT,ELECTRIC SHOCK,BURN,POWER LINE WORKER,E PTD,ELEC UTILITY WORK
Event description
ELECTRIC SHOCK - GROUND FAULT IN OVERHEAD LINE SWITCH
Investigation abstract
AN EMPLOYEE WAS ASSISTING A CREW IN A LOAD SWITCHING OPERATION. HE WAS STANDING OAB SWITCH. THE CURRENT ENTRY AND EXIT POINTS WERE THE EMPLOYEE'S HANDS, HIS RIG HT SIDE AT THE WAISTLINE, AND HIS RIGHT LEG. THE EMPLOYEE WAS HOSPITALIZED FOR H IS INJURIES. ON THE GROUND, LEANING AGAINST A METAL FENCE, OPERATING A GOAB SWITCH. THE SWITC H WAS DESIGNED TO PERMIT SWITCHING LOADS FROM THE GROUND. THE SWITCHING MECHANIS M INCORPORATED A FLEXIBLE METAL BAND, WHICH WAS TO REMAIN IN CONTACT WITH THE EN ERGIZED SIDE OF THE SWITCH UNTIL THE PRIMARY MECHANISM REESTABLISHED CONTACT. TH E METAL BAND WAS INTENDED TO PREVENT ARCING AT THE SWITCH. HOWEVER, THE BAND WAS MISALIGNED; AND, WHEN THE PRIMARY MECHANISM SEPARATED, AN ELECTRIC ARC FORMED B ETWEEN THE ENERGIZED PARTS OF THE SWITCH AND SOME OF THE NON-CURRENT-CARRYING HA RDWARE ON THE POLE. THE EMPLOYEE RECEIVED AN ELECTRIC SHOCK WHEN HE OPENED THE G
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 30 M
- Nature of injury
- 10
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 13
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 577
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 18
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#981 Degree 0 Age 0
- Nature of injury
- 0
- Part of body
- 0
- Event type
- 0
- Source
- 0
- Occupation code
- 0
- Human factor
- 0
- Environmental factor
- 0
- Task assigned
- 0
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.