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 #997916

ELEC PROTECT EQUIP,OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,ELECTROCUTED,E PTD,ELEC UTILITY WORK,UTILITY POLE

Event
ELEC PROTECT EQUIP,OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,ELECTROCUTED,E PTD,ELEC UTILITY WORK,UTILITY POLE
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
997916
Report ID
551800

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - DIRECT CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE

Investigation abstract

A THREE-PERSON CREW CONSISTING OF A CREW LEADER AND TWO APPRENTICE POWER LINE WO RT AWAY FROM THE POLE TO ANOTHER POLE NEARBY. THE CREW LEADER HEARD AN ELECTRIC ARC AND LOOKED UP TO SEE THE APPRENTICE ON THE POLE WITH THE UNGUARDED POWER LIN E AGAINST HIS BACK. THE EMPLOYEE WAS REMOVED FROM THE POLE AND TAKEN TO A HOSPIT AL, WHERE HE LATER DIED. RKERS (CLASS B) WERE GIVEN THE ASSIGNMENT OF INSTALLING GUY HARDWARE ON SEVERAL UTILITY POLES. AFTER THE COMPLETION OF THIS JOB, THE CREW LEADER INSTRUCTED THE TWO APPRENTICES TO INSTALL A DOUBLE 8-FOOT CROSSARM ON A UTILITY POLE SITTING BE SIDE A 12-KILOVOLT OVERHEAD POWER LINE. THE WIND SPEED THAT DAY WAS 40 MPH. THE CONDUCTOR WAS 42 INCHES FROM THE FACE OF THE POLE AND 17 INCHES FROM THE END OF THE ARM BEING INSTALLED. THE CREW LEADER INSTRUCTED ONE OF THE APPRENTICES TO CL IMB THE POLE TO INSTALL THE ARMS. AFTER SENDING THE CROSSARMS AND HARDWARE TO TH E EMPLOYEE ON THE POLE, THE CREW LEADER AND THE OTHER APPRENTICE BEGAN MOVING DI

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 23 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    3
    Event type
    13
    Source
    15
    Occupation code
    577
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    18
    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.