105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14557870

OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,MEASURING DEVICE,METAL POLE,ELECTRIC SHOCK,FALL,E GI IB

Event
OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,MEASURING DEVICE,METAL POLE,ELECTRIC SHOCK,FALL,E GI IB
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14557870
Report ID
653510

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE THRU METAL ROD

Investigation abstract

AN EMPLOYEE WAS WORKING ATOP AN 18-FOOT-TALL TANK FILLED WITH LIQUID FERTILIZER. HE WAS USING AN 18-FOOT, 8-INCH-LONG METAL ROD TO MEASURE THE LEVEL OF FLUID IN THE TANK. A 14.4-KILOVOLT OVERHEAD POWER LINE WAS LOCATED NEAR THE TANK. AFTER THE EMPLOYEE TOOK THE MEASUREMENT, HE PULLED THE ROD FROM THE TANK. THE ROD, WHI CH WAS IN CONTACT WITH THE RIM OF THE TANK FILL HOLE AND THE EMPLOYEE'S SHOULDER , CONTACTED THE POWER LINE. THE EMPLOYEE RECEIVED AN ELECTRIC SHOCK AND FELL TO THE GROUND. HE WAS TRANSPORTED TO A HOSPITAL, WHERE HE DIED SEVERAL HOURS LATER. HIS DEATH WAS CAUSED BY THE ELECTRIC SHOCK AND BY THE INJURIES HE SUSTAINED IN THE FALL.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 41 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    13
    Source
    15
    Occupation code
    374
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    18
    Hazardous substance
    8870
    Task assigned
    2

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.