Inspection Detail

Inspection: 126201433 - La City Water & Power

Inspection Information - Office: Los Angeles District Office

Investigation Summary

On November 22, 2008, Employee #1, a journeyman electrician, was rebuilding a power pole, by cleaning up jumbled wires and adding a new cross arm. Employee #1 climbed the pole and was working below the transformer. Employee #1's supervisor was on the roof of the adjacent building, and a groundman trainee was observing the work from below. Employee #1 finished installing the new cross arm and had completed slicing and connecting both the hot wires (120/240 volt) and grounding the jumper wires to the new cross arm. As Employee #1 was pulling the newly spliced neutral jumper to the new cross arm, the end that he had cut and taped poked through the tape and contacted the adjacent jumper, causing a phase-to-ground short circuit and arc flash. Employee #1, who was wearing an arc flash-rated work shirt, jeans, and lineman's gloves, sustained a second-degree burn to his left flank. Employee #1 was taken to White Memorial Hospital for treatment. He was treated and released the same day. Employee #1 was later taken to Grossman Burn Center, where he was treated and scheduled for a follow-up evaluation for skin grafts. He underwent outpatient surgery for skin grafts and was released the same day. Approximately three and a half weeks after the incident, Employee #1 was able to return to work with no restrictions. Employee #1 worked for Los Angeles City Water & Power.

Keywords: BURN, LADDER, SLIP, STRUCK AGAINST, CONSTRUCTION, DESCENDING, FIXED LADDER, LACERATION, ROOFER, ARM