OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14543862
HULL CORP.
ALLENTOWN, PA·
Event description
ELECTRIC SHOCK - CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE THRU BACKHOE
Investigation abstract
TWO EMPLOYEES WERE IN AN OPEN TRENCH INSTALLING DRAINAGE PIPE. A THIRD EMPLOYEE WAS OPERATING A BACKHOE TO DIG THE TRENCH AND TO PLACE THE LENGTHS OF PIPE INTO THE TRENCH. A WIRE ROPE CHOKER WAS BEING USED TO SUSPEND THE PIPE LENGTHS FROM T HE BACKHOE. A 12-KILOVOLT OVERHEAD POWER LINE WAS DIRECTLY ABOVE THE PIPELINE. A FTER A SECTION OF PIPE WAS PLACED, THE CHOKER WAS RELEASED AND PULLED FREE BY TH E BACKHOE. THE BACKHOE BOOM CONTACTED THE POWER LINE AND ELECTROCUTED ONE OF THE EMPLOYEES IN THE TRENCH. HE HAD HAD HIS HANDS ON THE CHOKER AT THE TIME. THE OT HER EMPLOYEE IN THE TRENCH RECEIVED AN ELECTRIC SHOCK FROM THE POTENTIAL GRADIEN T IN THE EARTH.
Victims (3)
-
#1 Fatality Age 38 M
- Nature of injury
- 10
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 13
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 8
- Hazardous substance
- 8870
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 32 M
- Nature of injury
- 10
- Part of body
- 16
- Event type
- 13
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 8
- Hazardous substance
- 8870
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#981 Degree 0 Age 0
- Nature of injury
- 0
- Part of body
- 0
- Event type
- 0
- Source
- 0
- Occupation code
- 0
- Human factor
- 0
- Environmental factor
- 0
- Task assigned
- 0
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.