Inspection Detail

Inspection: 119559417 - Henkel And Mccoy, Incorporated

Inspection Information - Office: Department Of Labor, Licensing, And Regulation Division Of Labor And Industry Maryland Occupational Safety And Health

Investigation Summary

A power line crew was transferring a 13-kilovolt overhead power line from an old utility pole to a new one. A 115-kilovolt overhead power line located above the 13-kilovolt line had already been transferred to the new pole. An apprentice power line worker climbed the new pole to hang a hand line to be used to help transfer the lower voltage power line. The apprentice, who was wearing rubber insulating gloves and sleeves, a hard hat, safety glasses, a body belt, and boots, climbed past the crossarm to the C-phase of the higher voltage line, where he hung the hand line from the center of the insulator. He then climbed further to hang the hand line on end of the B-phase insulator. The employee apparently caused an electric arc. He received an electric shock and sustained burns. The injured employee hung by his body belt until another employee climbed the pole and lowered the apprentice with the hand line. The injured employee was hospitalized with burns over 50 to 70 percent of his body. (The crew foreman had been at the bottom of the pole and had been aware that the apprentice was working around the higher voltage line. Neither the company's safety and health program nor the employee handbook included minimum approach distances for working near energized power lines.)

Keywords: BURN, CLOTHING, ELECTRIC ARC, OVERHEAD POWER LINE, ELECTRICAL, POWER LINE WORKER, E PTD, ELEC UTILITY WORK, ELECTRIC SHOCK, UNTRAINED