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 #997932

BURN,CLOTHING,ELECTRICAL,LADDER,LOCKOUT,E PTD,SUBSTATION,CIRCUIT BREAKER,ELEC UTILITY WORK

Event
BURN,CLOTHING,ELECTRICAL,LADDER,LOCKOUT,E PTD,SUBSTATION,CIRCUIT BREAKER,ELEC UTILITY WORK
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
997932
Report ID
551800

Event description

ELECTRIC BURNS - CONTACT WITH ENERGIZED BUSHING

Investigation abstract

A TWO-MAN TEST CREW WAS TESTING AN OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER AT A SUBSTATION. THE CREW ASSISTED THE FIRST EMPLOYEE IN REMOVING THE INJURED EMPLOYEE FROM THE LADDER. TH E FIRST EMPLOYEE STATED THAT THE "B" PHASE BLADE ON THE BUS-SIDE DISCONNECT WAS NEVER OPENED, THUS THE JUMPER FEEDING THIS BUSHING WAS NEVER DEENERGIZED. THE IN JURED EMPLOYEE WAS TAKEN TO THE BURN CENTER OF THE HOSPITAL AND DIED THE NEXT DA Y. THE FIRST EMPLOYEE, WHO WAS ALSO INJURED, WAS TREATED FOR HIS BURNS AND RELEA SED. WAS REQUIRED TO OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM THE THE LOAD DISPATCHER BEFORE STARTING. THE CREW MANUALLY OPENED THE SWITCH BY MEANS OF AN OPERATING SWITCH HANDLE. THE FIRST EMPLOYEE REMOVED A 20-FOOT WOODEN EXTENSION LADDER FROM THEIR VAN. HE POS ITIONED IT TO INSTALL THE HIGH VOLTAGE TEST LEAD ON THE FIRST BUSHING OF THE OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER. AFTER TESTING THE FIRST TWO BUSHINGS, THE EMPLOYEE ASKED THE S ECOND WORKER TO PLACE THE TEST LEAD ON THE THIRD ONE. THE EMPLOYEE STATED THAT H E HEARD A NOISE AND SAW THE SECOND EMPLOYEE ON FIRE AND LEANING TOWARD THE THIRD BUSHING. ANOTHER EMPLOYEE, WHO WAS IN THE SUBSTATION YARD, HEARD THE NOISE AND

Victims (2)

  1. #1 Fatality Age 52 M

    Nature of injury
    11
    Part of body
    1
    Event type
    13
    Source
    15
    Occupation code
    577
    Human factor
    13
    Environmental factor
    18
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 56 M

    Nature of injury
    21
    Part of body
    10
    Event type
    14
    Source
    43
    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.