Inspection Detail

Inspection: 306362278 - Diversified Utility Services Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Fresno District Office

Investigation Summary

On July 10, 2006, Employee #1, a journeyman electrical groundsman, was part of a four-man crew--himself, another groundsman, and two linemen--that was installing a new 12-kilovolt, three-phase electrical service to an irrigation pump. The pump was at a remote site, about 24 miles south of Porterville, CA. The crew started its shift at 6:00 a.m. in Goshen and arrived at the site at 10:00 a.m., at which point the temperature was 89 degrees Fahrenheit. They finished setting a pole at 11:30 a.m., at which time the temperature was 93 degrees F, and then took a 30-minute lunch break. After lunch, Employee #1 prepared a connection to the panel. This required very strenuous work, pulling conductors through a conduit. The panel was completed at 2:30 p.m., and Employee #1 asked one of his coworkers if he could rest in the shade. After 10 minutes, he asked to sit in the air-conditioned truck. At 3:10 p.m., Employee #1 said he was not feeling well and asked to be dropped at the hospital in Visalia on the way home. At 3:40 p.m., the other groundsman on the crew, who had EMT/CPR experience, evaluated his condition as worsening and decided to expedite transport to a hospital in Porterville. En route to Portervile, he contacted his spouse via cellular telephone and said that he was feeling the same as he had 1-1/2 years earlier, when he had suffered a heart attack and had to undergo open heart surgery. Shortly thereafter, Employee #1 had a seizure and became non-responsive. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful at the hospital, and he was pronounced dead. The employer was found to have effective injury and illness prevention, emergency preparedness, and heat stress prevention programs. Employee #1's spouse indicated that he had been complaining for the last several days of numbness in his arms and of thirst. The attending physician and the Tulare County Coroner determined that the death was not occupational, without consideration for heat-related illness, and the result of cardiopulmonary arrest due to preexisting health conditions.

Keywords: CARDIOVASC SYSTEM, HEART, HEART ATTACK, CONSTRUCTION, CARDIOVASC DISEASE