33 year-old electrician electrocuted in Indiana.
Source
NIOSH 1986 Jan; :1-6
Abstract
A 33 year old apprentice substation electrician in the final 6 months of a 6 year training program died after he came in contact with electrical energy and fell from an aerial bucket. Two journeyman substation electricians and two apprentice substation electricians were working as a crew to clean high voltage disconnect circuits at a large substation. An aerial bucket was used to access the switches. The victim had completed cleaning the fourth circuit. He left the fourth circuit closed to drain off any static charge that may have built up in the system. There would have been none had the outgoing side been grounded. The fourth circuit was reenergized. The crew foreman deenergized the incoming line to the fifth circuit. The line was tested and grounds placed on the incoming line. The victim was cleaning the switches when he contacted both sides of one of the three switches, completing the circuit. The victim did not have himself belted into the aerial bucket as required and was thrown out, falling 40 feet to the ground. Cause of death was listed as cerebral injuries received from the fall. The electrical shock was noted as the cause of the fall. The crew had not followed standard operating procedure while cleaning the switches. Recommendations arising from this accident include: the routine presentation of standard operating procedures and hazard awareness at safety meetings; and verification of the deenergization of both sides of a substation circuit before proceeding with work.
Keywords
NIOSH-Author; Region-5; FACE-86-10; Electrical-workers; Electrical-hazards; Safety-practices; Electrical-shock; Electric-power-transmission-lines
Document Type
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation; Field Studies
NTIS Accession No.
PB87-222220
Identifying No.
FACE-86-10
Source Name
Division of Safety Research, NIOSH, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Morgantown, West Virginia, Report Number FACE-86-10, 6 pages
