Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025
105,991Records 71,450Employers 85,836Hospitalizations 27,959Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-11-30

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14520639

CENTRAL ILLINOIS PUBLIC SERVICE CO.

Event
OVERHEAD POWER LINE, ELECTRICAL, POWER LINE WORKER, INSULATOR, ELECTROCUTED, E PTD, ELEC UTILITY WORK, UTILITY POLE
NAICS
000000
Inspection type
Accident-driven
Activity number
#2508505
Employer profile
CENTRAL ILLINOIS PUBLIC SERVICE CO.
Summary number
14520639
Report ID
524530

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE THRU POLE

Investigation abstract

THREE LINEMEN WERE STRINGING ENERGIZED CONDUCTORS USING LIVE-LINE PROCEDURES. TH EY WERE CLIPPING THE TOP PHASE OF A THREE-PHASE 69-KILOVOLT OVERHEAD SYSTEM TO A RIDGE PIN INSULATOR. THE TIE WIRE, WHICH WAS BENT, CONTACTED THE PIN, ENERGIZIN G THE POLE. (THE TIE WIRE WAS BENT WHEN INSULATING SHIELDS WERE REMOVED FROM THE ENERGIZED LINE, BEFORE IT WAS SET ON THE INSULATOR.) THE LINEMAN WAS IN CONTACT WITH A GROUNDED NEUTRAL CONDUCTOR THAT HAD NOT BEEN REMOVED FROM THE WORK AREA. THE CURRENT PASSED THROUGH THE POLE, INTO HIS BODY VIA HIS CLIMBING SHOE SPIKE, AND EXITED THROUGH THE GROUNDED NEUTRAL, CAUSING THE EMPLOYEE TO RECEIVE A FATA L SHOCK.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 36 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    13
    Source
    15
    Occupation code
    577
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    8
    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.