Inspection Detail

Inspection: 305478711 - Southern California Edison

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

On March 7, 2005, Employee #1 was working as an apprentice lineman for the electric utility Southern California Edison in Cypress, CA. He was part of a three-person electrical maintenance crew assigned to restore service to a damaged system. The accident took place in the front yard of a private residence. The system consisted of an underground vault containing a 100-kVA transformer that fed a "hand hole" of conductors energized at 240 volts. A Southern California Edison employee called a "troubleman" had diagnosed the partial electrical blackout in the neighborhood and had bypassed or jumpered the damaged conductor to restore 240-volt service to the neighborhood. When the crew arrived, they located the damage in the cable running from the transformer to the "hand hole" and spliced in a new section, repairing the cable. The previously installed jumper was removed, and the apprentice began to insert the cable that had just been repaired into the secondary block at the "hand hole." As Employee #1 inserted the new energized cable into the secondary block, an arc flash occurred. He had inadvertently placed the energized cable in contact with a different phase at the secondary block, creating a phase-to-phase fault and the electric arc. He sustained severe burns to his right arm and face that required skin grafts and 12 days of hospitalization.

Keywords: BURN, ELECTRIC ARC, ELECTRICAL VAULT, ELECTRICAL, E PTD, ELEC UTILITY WORK, ELECTRICAL FAULT, ELECTRICAL SPLICE, UNDRGRD POWER LINE