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 #14517312

E GI II,LIGHTING CIRCUIT,ELECTRICAL,ELECTRICIAN,LADDER,ELECTRICAL WORK,METAL LADDER,ELECTRIC SHOCK,FALL

Event
E GI II,LIGHTING CIRCUIT,ELECTRICAL,ELECTRICIAN,LADDER,ELECTRICAL WORK,METAL LADDER,ELECTRIC SHOCK,FALL
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14517312
Report ID
419700

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK AND FALL - DIRECT CONTACT WITH LIVE PARTS

Investigation abstract

TWO EMPLOYEES OF AN ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR WERE REPLACING BALLAST UNITS OF FLORES CENT LIGHTING FIXTURES IN A COURTHOUSE AS PART OF A ROUTINE MAINTENANCE PROGRAM. STANDING ON A 20-FOOT ALUMINUM LADDER, ONE EMPLOYEE WAS WORKING ON A LIGHTING F IXTURE IN THE CEILING OF A COURTROOM. THE OTHER EMPLOYEE WAS A HELPER WHOSE PRIN CIPAL DUTY WAS TO HOLD THE LADDER STEADY. THE CIRCUIT HAD NOT BEEN DEENERGIZED, AND THE FIXTURE ON WHICH WORK WAS BEING PERFORMED WAS LIT. THE EMPLOYEE ON THE L ADDER APPARENTLY MADE CONTACT WITH AN ENERGIZED CONDUCTOR, SCREAMED, STARTED DOW N THE LADDER, COLLAPSED, AND FELL TO THE FLOOR SOME 18 FEET BELOW. HE DIED THREE HOURS LATER. THE BALLASTS BEING INSTALLED WERE 120-VOLT UNITS.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 21 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    13
    Source
    15
    Occupation code
    575
    Human factor
    9
    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.