OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14510747
HEAD,SLIP,FALL,UTILITY POLE
Event description
FALL FROM UTILITY POLE
Investigation abstract
ON JULY 28, 1984 EMPLOYEE #1 WAS DISPATCHED TO A PRIVATE RESIDENCE IN BRYAN, TEX E OF THE HEAD. THE TIME OF DEATH WAS PLACED AT APPROXIMATELY 8:40 PM, JULY 28, 1 984. NO VITAL SIGNS WERE APPARENT WHEN THE PARAMEDICS EXAMINED THE EMPLOYEE AT T HE SCENE. RECORDS INDICATED THAT EMPLOYEE #1 WAS A FULLY QUALIFIFIED POLE CLIMBE R AND HAD WORKED FOR GENERAL TELEPHONE CO., OF THE SOUTH WEST SINCE JANUARY 7, 1 980. HE NORMALLY WORKED MONDAY-FRIDAY. HIS JOB TITLE WAS "CUSTOMER SERVICE SPECI ALIST". THERE WERE NO APPARENT PERSONNEL PROBLEMS. AS. HE WAS TO REPAIR A TELEPHONE DROPLINE WHICH HAD BEEN DAMAGED WHEN A TREE LIM B FELL ON THE LINE. THE LINE WAS ATTACHED TO A UTILITY POLE WHICH WAS LOCATED IN THE BACK YARD OF THE RESIDENCE. THE POLE WAS COVERED ABOUT 90 TO 95% WITH A VIN E OVERGROWTH. THE EMPLOYEE WAS WEARING ALL HIS REQUIRED SAFETY EQUIPMENT, INCLUD ING HIS BODY BELT, BELT STRAP, HARD HAT, GLOVES, LEG GAFFS AND BOOTS. HE CLIMBED THE POLE TO A POINT APPROXIMATELY 17 FEET FROM THE GROUND. HE ATTEMPTED TO TIE HIMSELF TO THE POLE, USING THE BODY BELT STRAP. APPARENTLY HE LOST HIS GRIP AND FELL BACKWARDS TO THE GROUND. HE STRUCK A STEEL MAN HOLE COVER WITH THE LEFT SID
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 32 M
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 5
- Source
- 34
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 13
- 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.