Overwork contributes to serious burn injury.
Authors
Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
Source
Olympia, WA: Department of Labor and Industries, 85-4-2006, 2006 May; :1
Abstract
A journeyman electrician with over twenty years of experience was assigned to work on an electrical circuit in an electrical vault that contained voltages exceeding 4000 volts. He was fatigued from excessive overtime. Including the day of the accident, he had worked over eighty hours in the previous 5 days. He had intended to de-energize the circuit before beginning work. Unfortunately, he de-energized the wrong circuit. He went to the energized circuit to begin work and an electrical arc-flash/blast occurred. As the work was intended to be done de-energized, he was not wearing personal protective equipment, such as a face shield or insulating gloves. He was thrown backwards but did not fall or lose consciousness. He suffered burns to his face, neck and hand. Burn treatment required hospitalization for about a week. Injuries such as these may be prevented by taking the following steps: 1. Accurately identify the equipment to be worked on and the energy isolating devices that will de-energize it. 2. Establish an "electrically safe work condition" whenever possible. De-energize it, lock it out, ground it and test it. 3. Always test for the absence of voltage at the location of the work. When working with voltages exceeding 600 volts, attach a hot stick to a high voltage detector. This will keep the electrician a safe distance from a possible arc flash/blast. 4. Attach grounding cables/straps with the appropriate voltage and current ratings with a hot stick. 5. Schedule jobs to avoid excess overtime by employees. 6. Proper personal protective equipment should always be used. 7. Never wear rings, watches or other jewelry when working with electricity.
Keywords
Accident-prevention; Accident-rates; Accidents; Accident-statistics; Epidemiology; Exposure-assessment; Injuries; Injury-prevention; Occupational-hazards; Occupational-health; Workplace-studies; Electric-properties; Electrical-burns; Electrical-equipment; Electrical-fields; Electrical-hazards; Electrical-properties; Electrical-safety; Electrical-shock; Electricity; Electrical-workers; Training; Education; Hazards; Personal-protection; Personal-protective-equipment; Safety-education; Safety-measures; Safety-practices
Contact
Safety and Health Assessment and Research for Prevention (SHARP) Program, Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, PO Box 44330, Olympia, WA 98504-4330
Funding Type
Cooperative Agreement
Identifying No.
Cooperative-Agreement-Number-U60-OH-008487
Source Name
Overwork contributes to serious burn injury.
Performing Organization
Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
