Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1558112.015 - La City Water And Power

Inspection Information - Office: Los Angeles District Office

Investigation Summary

At 10:00 a.m. on July 2, 2021, an employee working as an electrical system installer for a municipal power company was part of a crew pulling underground cable. The crew was pulling the cable from a maintenance vault into a transformer at a customer site. The crew was pulling the cable horizontally with a winch which was fixed and secured to one side of a utility truck. The employee was working his first day assigned to this crew. The winch was rotating clockwise at a slow speed pulling the line from the vault. The employee was standing by the winch drum (capstan) holding the slack in the 1-inch silver lawn rope while and adding more wraps into the drum to increase tension to the pulling line. Coworker #1 was operating the controls of the capstan remotely while standing approximately 15 feet way from the employee and keeping a visual on the employee. Coworker #2, a journeyman, was inside the vault maintaining verbal communication with the employee and Coworker #1. Coworker #4, the crew supervisor, was also nearby travelling back and forth checking on another crew working approximately 100 feet away. Coworker #4 asked the employee to add another wrap to the capstan to increase the tension on the pulling line. The employee was handling the rope with his left hand as he approached to the drum and added the wrap. The employee noticed that the rope was riding on top of the other rope in the drum. He used his left hand to push the rope to keep it in place at which time his Hyflex glove was caught between the two ropes. Coworker #1 saw the employee pulling his hand from the drum and so he stopped the winch immediately. No one else on the crew, including Coworker #4, saw the incident occur. The employee received medical treatment without hospitalization for a distal tuft amputation to his middle fingertip with exposed bone but no bone loss.

Keywords: Amputated, Amputation, Cable, Caught Between, Drum Hoist, Electrical Wire, Electrical Work, Finger, Fingertip, Glove, Hoist, Hoisting Mechanism, Hoistline, Inexperience, Instantaneous amputation, Partial Amputation, Rope, Tension, Traumatic Amputation, Undrgrd Power Line, Winch, Wire Rope