Inspection Detail

Inspection: 304553746 - Infinity Cable Corporation Dba Twin Star Cable

Inspection Information - Office: Concord Area Office

Investigation Summary

Two employees of Infinity Cable Corporation, dba Twin Star Cable, were removing the slack from a television cable line that had been installed approximately one year earlier. The cable was drooping as the result of a recent storm, and the two Twin Star Cable employees were pulling the line and taking up the slack. Employee #1 had parked an aerial lift truck parallel to the cable run, which was 20 feet above ground level and 9 feet, 6 inches below an overhead power line energized at 19,920 volts phase-to-ground. The vehicle was parked both on (the passenger side) and off (the driver side) the pavement facing the opposing traffic lane. After Employee #1 and his coworker exited the vehicle, the coworker climbed onto the back portion of the truck. He was positioning the boom and basket, neither of which was insulated, from the cradled position, in which the basket was at the front of the vehicle, to a position behind the truck. The coworker operated the boom controls and extended the boom as he raised it. He then rotated the boom counterclockwise, turning it toward the overhead power line. Employee #1, the job foreman, was on the ground on the driver's side of the truck. He contacted the driver's side door at the same time the boom basket contacted the single overhead primary line. Employee #1 was knocked backward and into a depression on the shoulder side of the roadway, coming to rest approximately 10 feet from the driver's side door. Employee #1 was transported by ambulance to Exeter Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Keywords: BOOM TRUCK, OVERHEAD POWER LINE, ELECTRICAL, TELECOM WORK, BOOM, E TC, ELECTROCUTED, E PTD, TRUCK BOOM