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 #14516165

ELECTRICAL,ELECTROCUTED,LIGHTNING,E C

Event
ELECTRICAL,ELECTROCUTED,LIGHTNING,E C
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14516165
Report ID
420600

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

Investigation abstract

A FIVE-PERSON CREW WAS PREPARING THE EXTERIOR OF A WATER TOWER FOR SAND BLASTING . THE INSIDE OF THE TOWER WAS ALSO TO BE RECOATED. A FAST MOVING THUNDERSTORM AP PEARED; AND, WHEN THE CREW OBSERVED LIGHTNING, THEY WERE ORDERED TO TAKE SHELTER INSIDE THE TANK. THE ONLY ACCESS TO THE TANK WAS BY MEANS OF A SINGLE LADDER. F OUR OF THE CREW MEMBERS WENT INTO THE TANK. UNFORTUNATELY, BEFORE THE FIFTH (A S TEEPLEJACK) COULD ENTER THE TANK, HE WAS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. HE WAS ELECTROCUTE D.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 45 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    1
    Source
    32
    Occupation code
    599
    Human factor
    4
    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.