Inspection Detail

Inspection: 109304378 - Greystone Power Corporation, An Electric Membershi

Inspection Information - Office: Atlanta West Area Office

Investigation Summary

A three-person power line crew was restoring electric power to a residential area. Several days earlier, a storm with strong winds had blown through the area, knocking out power to thousands of homes. At one residence, a fallen tree had brought down a service drop to the house. One of the crew members connected a new service drop to the meter and laid out the conductors to the pole. Another crew member went up in an aerial lift, presumably to attach the service to the transformer. The other crew members heard an arcing sound as the bucket was raised to the transformer. Immediately after hearing the arcing, they saw flames shoot up about 10 feet. One of the employees lowered the aerial lift bucket, thinking that the injured employee had contacted a primary conductor. When the bucket was lowered and the fire did not go out, the employee operating the aerial lift realized that the fire was being fed by hydraulic fluid, and he turned off the truck. This shut down the hydraulic pump and extinguished the main hydraulic fire. The employee then got a portable extinguisher and put out a small residual fire in the bucket. The injured employee was conscious when he was transported to a burn center. However, he died of his injuries 10 days after the accident. It was later determined that a metal tool fitting on the aerial lift had contacted an energized part. The metal fitting burned through a hydraulic hose, igniting the hydraulic fluid which sprayed the employee in the aerial lift.

Keywords: BURN, OVERHEAD POWER LINE, ELECTRICAL, POWER LINE WORKER, FIRE, HYDRAULIC FLUID, HYDRAULIC LINE, E PTD, ELEC UTILITY WORK, AERIAL LIFT