Construction

Electric power generation, distribution, and transmission hazards are addressed in specific standards for the construction industry.

OSHA Standards

This section highlights OSHA standards, directives (instruction to OSHA staff), and letters of interpretation (official letters of interpretation of the standards) related to power transmission and distribution in the construction industry.

Frequently Cited Standards

OSHA maintains a listing of the most frequently cited standards for specified 2-6-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. Please refer to OSHA's Frequently Cited OSHA Standards page for additional information. For Power and Communication Line and Related Structures Construction use NAICS code 237130 in the NAICS search box.

Other Highlighted Standards

State Standards

There are twenty-eight OSHA-approved State Plans, operating state-wide occupational safety and health programs. State Plans are required to have standards and enforcement programs that are at least as effective as OSHA's and may have different or more stringent requirements.

Additional Federal Register Notices

Note: The “Federal Register Notices” bullets above link to notices related to each OSHA standard. The notices in this list provide additional information that is not necessarily connected to a specific OSHA standard highlighted on this Safety and Health Topics page.

• Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution; Electrical Protective Equipment; Corrections. Correction 79:56955-56962, (September 24, 2014).
• Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution; Electrical Protective Equipment. Final Rules 79: 20315-20743, (April 11, 2014).

Additional Directives

Note: The "Directives" bullets above link to directives related to each OSHA standard. The directives in this list provide additional information that is not necessarily connected to a specific OSHA standard highlighted on this Safety and Health Topics page.

• Enforcement of the Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Standard. CPL 02-01-038 [CPL 2-1.38], (June 18, 2003). Assists compliance personnel in performing inspections at electric power generation, transmission, and distribution lines and equipment.

Additional Letters of Interpretation

Note: The “Letters of interpretation” bullets above link to letters related to each OSHA standard. The letters in this list provide additional information that is not necessarily connected to a specific OSHA standard highlighted on this Safety and Health Topics page.

Minimum Approach Distance

• Protection of workers operating mechanical equipment near overhead power lines. (December 7, 1999). Provides clarification regarding an unqualified crane operator contractor, who is being guided by a qualified journeyman electrician, working in close proximity to unguarded (7,620 to 500,000) voltage.

Fall Protection

• OSHA's requirements for locking type snaphooks on pole strap systems. (March 13, 1996). Provides an interpretation of fall protection requirements under 29 CFR 1910.269.
• Fall Protection in the power distribution industry. (September 1, 1995). Provides an interpretation of the OSHA standards addressing fall protection in the power distribution industry, (29 CFR 1910.269 and 29 CFR 1926.502).

Other Federal Agencies

• For information on regulations of other Federal Agencies, see the general industry Other Federal Agencies section.

Industry Hazards

Electrocution

• Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution. OSHA eTool. Informs employers of their obligations to develop the appropriate hazard prevention and control methodologies designed to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses.
• Construction. OSHA eTool. Also available in Spanish. Contains information that helps workers identify and control the hazards that cause the most serious construction-related injuries.
  • Contact with Power Lines. Contains information for workers who may be exposed to the risk of electrocution due to equipment contact with power lines.

Electrocution Reports

• Electrical Safety. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Workplace Safety and Health Topic. Provides links to in-house and state based fatality investigation reports of incidents in which electrical incidents resulted in worker deaths, NIOSH publications, and other related web sites.
• Worker Deaths by Electrocution: A Summary of Surveillance Findings and Investigative Case Reports. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Publication No. 98-131, (May 1998). Reports the industries with the highest percentage of electrocutions were construction (40%), transportation, communication, and public utilities (16%), and agriculture, forestry, and fishing (11%).
• Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Studies fatal occupational injuries to prevent occupational fatalities across the nation by identifying and investigating work situations at high risk for injury and then formulating and disseminating prevention strategies to those who may intervene in the workplace. It provides users with access to the full text of hundreds of fatality investigation reports, indexes reports by program, industry and cause of fatality.
  • Apprentice Lineman Electrocuted While Setting Utility Pole, Virginia. FACE 92-30. A 34-year-old apprentice lineman was electrocuted while assisting a co-worker in setting a wooden utility pole.
  • Electrician Electrocuted after Contacting Energized Conductor While Working from the Bucket of an Aerial Lift Truck--Virginia. FACE 92-25. A 46-year-old electrician was electrocuted after he contacted an energized power line while working from the bucket of an aerial lift truck. The victim was part of a two-man crew assigned to replace 12 fused electrical cutout switches located on utility poles at a housing project.
  • Lineman Electrocuted after Contacting 7,200-Volt Cutout Switch on Utility Pole in Tennessee. FACE 90-26. A lineman was electrocuted when he contacted a 7,200-volt cutout switch on a newly installed utility pole. Just before the incident, the victim had climbed the utility pole, installed a cutout switch, and connected it (with a jumper cable) to a 7200-volt conductor that had not yet been energized.
  • Lineman Electrocuted When He Contacts a 7,200-volt Powerline While Installing a Guy Wire in North Carolina. FACE 90-27. A 30-year-old journeyman lineman was electrocuted when he contacted a 7,200-volt power line while installing a guy wire. The victim was a member of a crew that was installing a new single-phase 7,200-volt power line parallel to, and 24 inches away from, an existing energized single-phase 7,200-volt power line.
  • Utility Company Employee Electrocuted in California While Drilling Under a Road. FACE 85-42. Crewmen for a gas utility company were using an air-driven machine to drill horizontally under a road to provide new gas line service. One worker was electrocuted and a second was injured when the drill contacted a 4,160-volt power line.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Preventing Worker Deaths and Injuries from Contacting Overhead Power Lines with Metal Ladders. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Publication No. 2007-155, (September 2007). Provides recommendations to prevent injuries and deaths while working with metal ladders.
  • Preventing Electrocutions of Crane Operators and Crew Members Working Near Overhead Power Lines. Publication No. 95-108, (May 1995). Describes five cases (six electrocutions) that resulted from the hazards of operating cranes near overhead power lines and makes recommendations for preventing similar incidents.
  • Preventing Electrocutions During Work with Scaffolds Near Overhead Power Lines. Publication No. 91-110, (August 1991). Describes 13 deaths that occurred in six separate incidents when workers erected or moved scaffolds that came into contact with energized, overhead power lines, or when they contacted overhead power lines while using conductive tools or materials from scaffolds.
  • Preventing Fatalities of Workers Who Contact Electrical Energy. Publication No. 87-103, (December 1986). Prompt emergency medical care can be lifesaving for workers who have contacted either low voltage or high voltage electric energy. Immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) within approximately 4 minutes followed by advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) within approximately 8 minutes has been shown to save lives.
  • Preventing Electrocutions from Contact Between Cranes and Power Lines. Publication No. 85-111, (July 1985). Presents information on five cases which resulted in six fatal injuries involving crane-related electrocutions.
• For additional information, see OSHA's Safety and Health Topics Pages on:
  • Electrical - Construction
  • Electrical Contractors Industry
  • Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)

Falls

• Worker Deaths by Falls (PDF). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Publication No. 2000-116, (September 2000). Reports that falls from elevations were the fourth leading cause of occupational fatalities from 1980 through 1994. The 8,102 deaths due to falls from elevations accounted for 10 percent of all fatalities and an average of 540 deaths per year. Between 1982 and 1997, NIOSH investigated 90 falls incidents that resulted in 91 fatalities.
• Maintenance Technician Drowns After Falling From a Turbine Support-Ring Platform at a Hydroelectric Power Generation Facility in South Carolina. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) 9116. Two technicians left the basket to inspect the welds. Neither was wearing a buoyancy (life) vest, even though life vests were available at the site and the company required their use.
• Electrical Lineman Dies After Falling 35 Feet to the Ground from a Burning Aerial Bucket in South Carolina. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) 9035. Standard employer practice required the use of common hydraulic hoses (without metal reinforcement) on any area of the boom or aerial bucket that might be placed near energized power lines. The mechanic told investigators that he knew he was installing the wrong type of hose, but did not understand the potential hazards involved. When the hose ruptured while the lineman was using the impact wrench, the spraying hydraulic fluid contacted the hot metal and ignited.
• Fall Protection - Construction. OSHA Safety and Health Topics Page.

Confined Spaces

• Confined Spaces - Construction

Hazards for Other Workers

Cable Installers

• Wireless Cable TV Service Installer Electrocuted by Overhead Power Line. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE), Missouri FACE Investigation Report 96MO059. An installer of a wireless cable TV service was electrocuted when the antenna mast he was raising/installing came into contact with a 7,200-volt overhead power line.
• Cable Television Installer Electrocuted When Cable Wire Contacts 7,200-Volt Powerline. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE), Missouri FACE Investigation Report 98MO042, (October 30, 1998). A cable television (CATV) installer was electrocuted when the cable wire he was holding contacted a 7,200-volt power line.
• Three Fiber Optic Cable Installers Killed by Contact with Power Line. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE), Nebraska FACE Investigation Report 98025, (October 16, 1998). A 41-year-old journeyman lineman, a 38-year-old journeyman lineman, and a 24-year-old, all working as cable installers in aerial line construction, were killed when a guy wire contacted an 8,000-volt above-ground power line.

Construction Workers

• Construction. OSHA eTool. Also available in Spanish. Contains information that helps workers identify and control the hazards that cause the most serious construction-related injuries.
  • Contact with Power Lines. Contains information for workers who may be exposed to the risk of electrocution due to equipment contact with power lines.
• Electrocution Resulting from Crane Cable Contact with Power Line. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Investigations of Fatal Electrical Incidents Report 82-03. This report is based on an investigation of a single occupational electrocution resulting from a crane's cable coming in contact with a 7,200-volt power line.

Other

• Laborer Dies of Complications After Receiving Severe Electrical Shock Installing a TV Tower. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE), Indiana State Department of Health Indiana FACE Report, (November 18, 1993). A 51-year-old worker (the decedent), a co-worker, and the employer were installing a TV tower at the side of a building housing the employer's business. As the workers were trying to stabilize the TV tower into the pre-dug hole, it fell and contacted one phase of a three phase 7200-volt overhead power line. The electrical current traveled from phase to ground, killing one worker and giving the co-worker a severe electrical shock.

Fall Protection

• OSHA's requirements for locking type snaphooks on pole strap systems. OSHA Letter of Interpretation, (March 13, 1996). Provides an interpretation of fall protection requirements under 29 CFR 1910.269. The fall protection requirements under paragraph 29 CFR 1910.269(g) do not apply to rural electric cooperatives connecting electrical service to a consumer's home to install electric line attachments. However, the fall protection requirements under paragraph 29 CFR 1910.23(c)(1) do apply to such a workplace application.

Additional Resources

Related Safety and Health Topics Pages

• Motor Vehicle Safety - Construction
• Scaffolding - Construction

Training

• Construction Industry Outreach Training Program. OSHA.

Alliances

• Construction. OSHA's Alliance Program. This is one of OSHA's Strategic Management Plan Focus Areas.

eTools

• Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution. OSHA eTool. This eTool seeks to inform employers of their obligations to develop the appropriate hazard prevention and control methodologies designed to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses.
• Construction. OSHA eTool. Also available in Spanish. Contains information that helps workers identify and control the hazards that cause the most serious construction-related injuries.
  • Contact with Power Lines. Contains information for workers who may be exposed to the risk of electrocution due to equipment contact with power lines.

Other Resources

• Construction - Pocket Guide. OSHA Publication 3252, (2005).