104,543Records 70,659Employers 84,666Hospitalizations 27,563Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-09-30
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14513857

ELEC PROTECT EQUIP,OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,ROPE,ELECTROCUTED,E PTD,ELEC UTILITY WORK

Event
ELEC PROTECT EQUIP,OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,ROPE,ELECTROCUTED,E PTD,ELEC UTILITY WORK
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14513857
Report ID
524700

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE THRU ROPE

Investigation abstract

BECAUSE OF A POWER OUTAGE CAUSED BY A VEHICLE ACCIDENT, AN EMPLOYEE WAS DISPATCH DID NOT OPEN THE DISCONNECT. HE DID NOT WEAR RUBBER INSULATING GLOVES OR BOOTS, BUT HE DID HAVE ON A PAIR OF LEATHER LINEMAN'S GLOVES. THE ROPE WAS FOUND OVER T HE POWER LINE, AND THE EMPLOYEE WAS FOUND IN THE ROADWAY DITCH. THERE WERE BURN MARKS ON HIS FEET AND HIS RIGHT HAND AND ON THE ROPE. THE EMPLOYEE WAS ELECTROCU TED. THERE WERE NO WITNESSES TO THE ACCIDENT. ED TO A TROUBLE AREA. THE OVERHEAD POWER LINE INVOLVED WAS A 7,200-VOLT LINE. TH E EMPLOYEE CALLED THE DISPATCHER BY RADIO AN HOUR LATER AND INFORMED HIM THAT A NEW POLE AND CREW WOULD BE NEEDED. HE ALSO STATED THAT THE FUSE WAS BLOWN AND TH AT HE COULD SEE THE FUSE LINK HANGING DOWN OUT OF THE BOTTOM OF THE FUSE TUBE. H E SAID THAT HE WAS GOING TO TIE BACK THE POWER LINE. THIS WOULD BE DONE BY DRIVI NG A STAKE IN THE GROUND AND BY THROWING A ROPE OVER THE POWER LINE TO PULL THE LINE BACK FROM THE ROADWAY. THE OVERHEAD LINE WAS APPROXIMATELY 10 FEET ABOVE TH E GROUND. AFTER MOVING THE LINE, HE WAS GOING TO REPLACE THE FUSE. THE EMPLOYEE

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 41 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    12
    Event type
    13
    Source
    15
    Occupation code
    577
    Human factor
    6
    Environmental factor
    6
    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.