104,543Records 70,659Employers 84,666Hospitalizations 27,563Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-09-30
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #978148

ELECTRICAL,POWER LINE WORKER,ELECTROCUTED,LOCKOUT,E PTD,ELEC UTILITY WORK,TRANSFORMER

Event
ELECTRICAL,POWER LINE WORKER,ELECTROCUTED,LOCKOUT,E PTD,ELEC UTILITY WORK,TRANSFORMER
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
978148
Report ID
454734

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - DIRECT CONTACT WITH ENERGIZED PARTS

Investigation abstract

Two power line workers were on a service call troubleshooting a power outage. On . The transformer was energized, and the employee was electrocuted. arriving at the worksite, they observed a 7200-volt fuse that had opened. They replaced the fuse, and it also blew. This led the employees to assume that a tra nsformer in an adjacent driveway had faulted and was causing the fuses to open. (The fault was elsewhere, however.) Because the fuse was open, the employees als o (mistakenly) believed that the circuit to the transformer was deenergized. The y began working on the transformer as if it were deenergized even though they di d not check it for voltage and ground it. One of the employees put his hand on t he primary booster atop the transformer while his chest was touching the neutral

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 57 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    5
    Event type
    13
    Source
    15
    Occupation code
    577
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    17
    Task assigned
    1

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