Inspection Detail

Inspection: 304310709 - Coast Electric Power Association

Inspection Information - Office: Jackson Area Office

Investigation Summary

A crew of seven power line workers had been sent to replace a faulty recloser/circuit breaker on the field side conductor of a 14.4-kilovolt overhead power line. Two power line workers working from bucket trucks positioned to afford access to opposite sides of a pole were disconnecting the old breaker and installing a new one. The lead power line worker, Employee #1, boomed up to the load side of the recloser. The second power line worker's boom malfunctioned and would not elevate. As the second power line worker and two other employees worked to repair the problem, Employee #1 began removing the existing breaker from service. He used his hot stick to close the knife switch on the line, allowing the current to bypass the breaker and permitting the removal of the load side stinger. The boom was repaired on the second truck, and the second power line worker boomed to the source side of the breaker. The second worker thought that Employee #1 had completed the required work on both sides of the pole to isolate the field side breaker and that it was ready to be removed. The second worker noticed that the circuit breakers for the center and roadside conductors were close to Employee #1. The second worker and Employee #1 isolated the center and roadside breakers, and the second worker boomed back over to the field side breaker. Thinking that the breaker was isolated, the second worker attempted to remove the ground. Employee #1 informed him that he had already disconnected it. The second worker then loosened a bolt on the breaker with a wrench. Employee #1 passed a small socket to the second worker, and as the second worker put the socket on his hydraulic drill, an arc occurred. Employee #1 had contacted exposed energized parts of the field side conductor breaker. He was electrocuted. The source side stinger, which was above the second line worker's head, had not been disconnected. A cluster of pine tree limbs, in the background in the angle from which the employees made their original assessment, camouflaged the stinger. The employees did not test the breaker to insure that it had been deenergized.

Keywords: BOOM TRUCK, OVERHEAD POWER LINE, E GI IV, ELECTRICAL, ELECTRIC SWITCH, POWER LINE WORKER, OBSTRUCTED VIEW, ELECTROCUTED, E PTD, ELEC UTILITY WORK