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Accident Review: An electrocution case study reiterates the need for safety training

By Tom O'Connor | Sep 11, 2023
hard hat
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has regulations in place to protect workers from injury and illness while they’re on the job. Additionally, employers should have safety programs, policies and procedures.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has regulations in place to protect workers from injury and illness while they’re on the job. Additionally, employers should have safety programs, policies and procedures. These elements should coincide with specialized, job-specific safety training intended to minimize the risk of an accident happening and ensure that, at minimum, mandated OSHA safeguards are met. However, accidents sometimes still occur. 

A real-life event

Let’s look at a recent, real-life case. In this incident, a 48-year-old city electric maintenance worker was electrocuted while installing lines for police surveillance cameras along a residential cul-de-sac. 

The worker arrived at the city workshop at 7 a.m. He was instructed to install approximately 2,000 feet of triplex service wire on light poles along a residential street. 

He got to the work site at 10:24 a.m., with the wire on a roll. He then placed the boom truck under the first light pole and installed the triplex ­service wire on the first light pole ­connecting to the second light pole. According to a GPS tracker in the elevated bucket truck, the worker turned the truck around and drove up the street to position it in front of a newly placed camera pole. 

The 1,300V electric power lines running to the housing development were ­adjacent to this pole, and beyond these lines were 3-phase, 7,200V power lines. The worker got in the basket and raised it to ­approximately 28 feet. He began pulling some triplex ­service wire and installing it on the ­security pole. It is believed the worker did not ­realize his ­proximity to the power lines while ­performing this task and ­contacted his right shoulder with the energized power line. 

At 1:32 p.m., emergency services were called because a residential home had experienced flickering lights and heard a loud noise. At the scene, first responders from the fire department found a truck with a raised basket in the air and a hard hat on the street. Once the fire department’s ­ladder truck was raised above the basket, the responders saw the worker laying on the floor of the basket. 

There were indications that a power line had arced, burnt through and landed on the ground. The electric maintenance worker had signs of electrical burns on his right shoulder, hand and clothing. Sadly, he was pronounced dead on the scene at 2:28 p.m.

What can we learn from this?

According to the National Institute of Safety and Health, “Occupational injuries and fatalities are often the result of one or more contributing factors or key events in a larger sequence of events that ultimately result in the injury or ­fatality.” ­

Following the incident, ­investigators deemed these unrecognized ­hazards as key contributing factors in the fatality: proximity to energized power lines, the ­placement of the bucket truck and pole, lack of lone/remote worker ­assignment safety ­assessment, lack of hazard ­identification and situational awareness, a nontypical job task, lack of safety standard operating procedures, lack of appropriate personal protective equipment and lack of training.

Furthermore, investigators concluded how to help prevent similar future ­accidents. Before assigning work, employers should: 

  • Determine appropriate safety distances while working near electrical power line hazards 
  • Develop, implement and train on hazards, safety and communication plans for lone workers 
  • Provide competent and qualified person training to enable workers in high-risk occupations to assess routine and nonroutine job tasks for job site hazards to determine appropriate safety precautions and PPE. 

Additionally, employers should ­implement prework hazard identification with corrective action/peer-check, self-check and daily safety talks that address hazard recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions; develop periodic and ­regular testing, inspection and maintenance of ­elevated work platforms; train and ­evaluate employees on the selection, inspection and safe operation of elevated bucket trucks; and, prior to assigning work, identify and establish safe work practices such as ­lockout/tagout procedures.

As this case shows, ­failure to implement safety and training for workers and employers can have dire ­consequences. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to adhere to all relevant OSHA regulations, PPE requirements and ­c­ompany safety policies and procedures.

About The Author

O’CONNOR is safety and regulatory affairs manager for Intec, a safety consulting, training and publishing firm. Reach him at [email protected].

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