Inspection Detail

Inspection: 305353104 - Edison

Inspection Information - Office: Santa Ana District Office

Investigation Summary

A power line crew was troubleshooting an outage on an overhead power line. The crew determined the cause of the outage and was going to isolate the problem circuit and reroute power to affected customers. A power line worker on the crew climbed a 15-meter-tall utility pole at the rear property line of a single-family residence. This pole had a pothead connecting the 4-kilovolt overhead power line to an underground power line. The pole also supported a low-voltage rack about 3 meters below the top of the pole. The rack held conductors feeding household circuits. Using climbing gear and a live-line tool, the power line worker removed the connections between the overhead and underground conductors. After removing the taps near the top of the pole, he his used a rope to lower his live-line tool. As he was descending the pole, he released his positioning belt to go around the secondary rack, which was about 12 meters above the ground. When he passed the rack, he lost his balance and fell to the ground. He dislocated his left knee and fractured his left leg. He was hospitalized for 10 days, where doctors performed multiple surgeries for his injuries.

Keywords: KNEE, FRACTURE, POWER LINE WORKER, DISLOCATED, ELEC UTILITY WORK, FALL, FALL PROTECTION, UTILITY POLE, LEG