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 #14494959

ELEC PROTECT EQUIP,OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,TELECOM WORK,E TC,ELECTROCUTED,HAND TOOL

Event
ELEC PROTECT EQUIP,OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,TELECOM WORK,E TC,ELECTROCUTED,HAND TOOL
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14494959
Report ID
627700

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE THRU TOOL

Investigation abstract

DURING A SEVERE ICE STORM, AN EMPLOYEE WAS ASSIGNED TO LOOK FOR DOWNED TELEPHONE DROP LINES. THE EMPLOYEE AND A COWORKER WERE FLAGGED DOWN BY A MAN AND WERE TOL D THAT A POWER LINE WAS DOWN IN AN ALLEY AND THAT IT WAS BURNING A TREE. THEY WA LKED UP THE ALLEY TO THE DOWNED LINE, WHICH WAS COVERED WITH 0.75-INCHES OF ICE. THE COWORKER SUGGESTED THEY LEAVE THE LINE ALONE AND CALL FOR ASSISTANCE. THE F IRST EMPLOYEE ATTEMPTED TO MOVE THE LINE AWAY FROM THE TREE WITH A PAIR OF 8-INC H UNINSULATED WIRE CUTTERS. HE WAS ELECTROCUTED BY THE 7200-VOLT OVERHEAD POWER LINE.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 29 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    13
    Source
    15
    Occupation code
    527
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    17
    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.