Inspection Detail

Inspection: 119810810 - Smud

Inspection Information - Office: Sacramento District Office

Investigation Summary

An electric utility employee was an apprentice tree trimmer in his sixth step of training. He had been with his employer for about 1.5 years. The crew the apprentice was working with had an interrupted work day--the crew went to headquarters, had lunch, and then went to the backyard of a residence to trim trees. The first apprentice and another apprentice were trimming an apple tree. The second apprentice went to the front yard of the residence to see if the foreman had arrived with a chipper truck. The first apprentice was tied in, standing on the guard arms of a utility pole at a position about 20 feet above the ground. The utility pole supported a cable television cable, a telephone cable, a lower secondary overhead power line, a neutral conductor, an upper secondary overhead power line, and a primary overhead power line (at about 17 feet, 17.3 feet, 25 feet, 26.25 feet, 27.5 feet, and 32 to 35.5 feet above the ground, respectively). The apprentice apparently contacted one of the overhead power lines and received an electric shock. A gardener informed the crew that the injured employee was in trouble. The crew lowered the apprentice to the ground. Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation was administered to no avail. The employee was electrocuted. Current entry and exit wounds were found on the apprentice's right thumb and left shoulder. There were no witnesses to the accident. However, a recreation of the incident by the electric utility suggested that the employee contacted one of the power lines, which were above and behind him, with a tree branch that he had just cut and was throwing to the ground.

Keywords: OVERHEAD POWER LINE, ELECTRICAL, TREE LIMB, ELECTROCUTED, E PTD, TREE, TREE TRIMMING