UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1536668.015 - Clay Electric Cooperative, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Jacksonville

Investigation Summary

At 5:53 p.m. on June 15, 2021, an employee was working for an electric power coo perative. It distributed electric power. He had been dispatched to a power outag e. The outage had been caused by fallen tree limbs and vegetation that had lande d on a single conductor energized at 14.4 kV. The employee was working from with in the insulated bucket of a Terex model LT38 extendable articulating boom, with serial number 2100441543. It was mounted on a yellow 2016 Dodge Ram 5500 Hi Ran ger utility truck owned by the cooperative. It had the coop's serial number 2051 , VIN 3C7WRNBL3GG275387, and Florida license plate GBR007. The employee had cut tree limbs with fiberglass handled cable cutters. When limbs were cut, the tree limb and vegetation pulled down and pinned the primary and neutral conductors ac ross the top of the insulated bucket. At some point, the employee had touched th e conductors with only a leather glove on his left hand. He was found with no vi tal signs. He had been electrocuted. He hadn't opened the S&C trip saver device downstream. There was no evidence that he had attached any grounds upstream and downstream before he began cutting the branches with the fiberglass cable cutter s. There was no evidence that he had verified the absence of voltage on the line prior to working on the line. The employee did not have on and was not using ad equate electrical protective equipment, in the form of rated rubber gloves.

Keywords:boom, boom truck, bucket , digger/derrick, e gi ii, elec protect equip, electric shock, electrical, electrocuted, energized, glove, line clearance, overhead power line, power line worker, protective grounding, tree