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 #801951

BURN,ELECTRIC ARC,ELECTRICAL,E GI VII,ELECTRICIAN,ELECTRICAL WORK,ELECTRICAL FAULT,SWITCHGEAR

Event
BURN,ELECTRIC ARC,ELECTRICAL,E GI VII,ELECTRICIAN,ELECTRICAL WORK,ELECTRICAL FAULT,SWITCHGEAR
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
801951
Report ID
454510

Event description

BURN - ELECTRICAL FAULT IN SWITCHGEAR

Investigation abstract

AN ELECTRICAL WORKER WAS ASSIGNED TO CHECK A PROBLEM WITH A GROUND FAULT ON A SW HIS HANDS, FOR WHICH HE WAS HOSPITALIZED. ITCHGEAR PANEL. THE PROBLEM HAD BEEN NOTED THE PREVIOUS DAY WHEN A RED LIGHT ON THE PANEL LIT. THE CIRCUIT BREAKERS HAVE RED TRIP BUTTONS TO OPERATE THE 600-VOL T, 800-AMPERE, 3-PHASE CIRCUIT BREAKERS. THE EMPLOYEE WAS PRESSING EACH OF THE E IGHT TRIP BUTTONS. WHEN HE GOT TO THE THIRD ONE, WHICH CONTROLLED POWER TO THE T OOL ROOM, HE HAD TO LIE ON THE FLOOR TO PUSH THE BUTTON, WHICH WAS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PANEL. WHEN HE PRESSED THIS BUTTON, THE SWITCHGEAR EXPLODED, DUE TO A DE FECT IN THE CIRCUIT BREAKER. THE ELECTRICAL EXPLOSION AT THIS CIRCUIT BREAKER CA SCADED TO THE OTHER BREAKERS IN THE PANEL. THE EMPLOYEE RECEIVED SEVERE BURNS ON

Victim

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 54 M

    Nature of injury
    5
    Part of body
    12
    Event type
    14
    Source
    15
    Occupation code
    523
    Human factor
    8
    Environmental factor
    15
    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.