The May National Electrical Safety Month campaign is meant to educate stakeholders about how to decrease the likelihood of electrical fires, fatalities, injuries and property loss. Let’s look at a recent accident case study to evaluate the incident, observe what went wrong and identify what could have been done to prevent it.

A fatal incident

In this scenario, a contract worker was hired through a staffing agency and had only been on the job for three weeks when the incident occurred. The worker was fatally electrocuted when attempting to replace an energized lighting fixture. They were part of an overnight crew of subcontractor lighting technicians tasked with swapping out lights in a large retail chain store. The lighting circuits were energized when work was done.

No workplace hazards at the stores had been identified prior to the start of the job. The subcontractors tasked with doing the work were under the assumption that all the stores were on 120V single-phase circuits and previously retrofitted with luminaire (i.e., “quick”) disconnects. 

Before beginning the project, the foreman located a 208/120V single-phase panel that he thought was the lighting electrical panel. However, this panel was for accent lighting only. The main store lighting was in an uninspected, 480/277V 3-phase panel. Therefore, the victim was working on a fixture without a quick disconnect when the incident happened.

At some point, co-­workers noticed the affected worker slumped over a scaffold. Colleagues administered CPR and called 911. They were unable to revive him. 

When first responders arrived, they pronounced the worker dead at the scene. A police officer notified OSHA and instructed the crew not to disturb the scene so a proper investigation could be conducted to determine the cause of death.

Shortly after the body was removed and first responders left, the foreman and remaining crew continued to work, completing the disconnect installation the decedent was working on, exposing themselves to similar and potentially fatal hazards. OSHA investigators took photographs and witness statements when processing the scene.

Contributing factors

The investigation found that several factors contributed to the fatality. The first was the absence of a trained, competent person on the job site. 

The OSHA report stated, “The term ‘Competent Person’ is used in many OSHA standards and documents. An OSHA ‘competent person’ is defined as ‘one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them’ [29 CFR 1926.32(f)]. 

“By way of training and/or experience, a competent person is knowledgeable of applicable standards, is capable of identifying workplace hazards relating to the specific operation, and has the authority to correct them. Some standards add additional specific requirements which must be met by the competent person.”

Additional factors included work being conducted by an unlicensed subcontractor and on wiring within an energized circuit, lack of PPE appropriate for the task and inadequate training, especially for new employees, on workplace hazards associated with electrical wiring. 

Furthermore, the general contractor failed to assess the proper safety procedures, licensing statuses and overall safety regulations necessary for the job to be completed safely. If they had, work would not have resumed following the fatality.

How to mitigate risk

Investigators concluded that to prevent similar occurrences, employers should always have a competent person at the job site to identify or mitigate safety hazards, de-energize circuits and use lockout/tagout procedures before commencing work, as well as provide written procedures and training to ensure employees are able to safely perform potentially hazardous tasks.

All contractors and subcontractors should ensure compliance with licensing requirements in states where they conduct business and ensure compliance with company policies and all state, federal and local regulations. This is especially important for those pertaining to worker safety responsibilities. These should be explicitly clear between contractors, staffing agencies or host employers. 

Saving time on a job by not checking the power is off is nothing compared to saving a worker’s life. 

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