White River Valley Electric Cooperative

An employee had set an anchor through the limbs of a cedar tree into the ground. After the anchor was set, he stowed the auger and drove up the right-of-way approximately 200 feet. The injured employee was gathering materials at the back of the truck when the digger operator started to unwind the auger and it dislodged from the stem. The auger fell approximately 15 feet and struck the employee in the midback and lower part of his body. The auger drove the employee to the ground, landed on him, and knocked him unconscious. The employee was hospitalized with a dislocated hip and fractures to his ribs and pelvis.