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 #976654

OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,POWER LINE WORKER,ELECTROCUTED,E PTD,ELEC UTILITY WORK,FALL,FALL PROTECTION,UTILITY POLE

Event
OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,POWER LINE WORKER,ELECTROCUTED,E PTD,ELEC UTILITY WORK,FALL,FALL PROTECTION,UTILITY POLE
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
976654
Report ID
551800

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - DIRECT CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE

Investigation abstract

A LINE CREW WAS WORKING ON A UTILITY POLE REMOVING A TRANSFORMER. A WEEK EARLIER , THE CREW HAD ATTACHED AN EXTENSION ARM ON THE POLE TO HOLD TWO OF THE PHASE CO NDUCTORS. THE REMAINING PHASE, WHICH WAS LOCATED ON THE ROAD SIDE OF THE POLE, W AS STILL ON THE CROSSARM. AS THE CREW WAS REMOVING THE TRANSFORMER, THE CROSSARM BROKE, ALLOWING ALL THREE PHASE CONDUCTORS AND THE EXTENSION ARM TO FALL TO THE GROUND. THE PHASE FARTHEST FROM THE ROAD SIDE OF THE POLE CAME OUT OF ITS HOLDE R. ONE OF THE EMPLOYEES GRABBED THIS CONDUCTOR, WHICH WAS ENERGIZED AT 7200 VOLT S TO GROUND, AND FELL WITH IT TO THE GROUND. HE LANDED WITH THE CONDUCTOR ON HIS CHEST, AND HE WAS ELECTROCUTED.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 47 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    13
    Source
    15
    Occupation code
    577
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    6
    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.