OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #821611
BURN,METAL WIRE,ELECTRICAL,ELECTRICIAN,PANELBOARD,BUSBAR,ELECTRICAL WORK,E C,ELECTRICAL FAULT
Event description
BURN - ELECTRICAL FAULT IN PANELBOARD
Investigation abstract
AN ELECTRICIAN WAS USING A STEEL TAPE TO FISH AN EQUIPMENT GROUNDING CONDUCTOR T IGHT SIDE FEEDING THE TAPE THROUGH THE CONDUIT, AND THE TAPE HUNG UP. THE STEEL TAPE CONTACTED THE 480-VOLT BUSBAR, AND THE RESULTANT ELECTRIC ARC, EXPLOSION, A ND FIRE CAUSED FIRST AND SECOND DEGREE BURNS ON THE EMPLOYEE'S LEFT ARM (FROM HI S FINGERS TO THE MIDDLE OF HIS UPPER ARM), ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HIS NECK, AND ON THE UPPER PORTION OF HIS RIGHT ARM. HROUGH AN UNDERGROUND CONDUIT. THE 200-FOOT STEEL TAPE WAS BEING USED IN A 400-A MPERE, 480-VOLT, THREE-PHASE FOP PANELBOARD (MODEL NUMBER M3A, SERIES C). THE PA NELBOARD WAS WITHIN A 1200-AMPERE, 3-PHASE, 4-WIRE, 480/277-VOLT COMPARTMENT. TH E ACCESS PANEL OPENING FOR THE PANELBOARD WAS 23 INCHES WIDE AND 9.5 INCHES HIGH AND WAS ABOUT 3.5 INCHES ABOVE THE FLOOR. AN ENERGIZED BUSBAR WAS LOCATED INSID E THE PANELBOARD, ABOUT 4 INCHES ABOVE THE OPENING. THE ELECTRICIAN WAS FEEDING THE TAPE THROUGH A 4-INCH-DIAMETER PVC CONDUIT THAT WAS ENCASED IN CONCRETE AND THAT HAD THREE, 0.75-INCH-DIAMETER CABLES IN IT. THE EMPLOYEE WAS LYING ON HIS R
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 26 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 6
- 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.