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Preventing electrocutions of workers in fast food restaurants
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December 1984
[PDF-148.02 KB]
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Description:On June 30, 1984, an 18-year-old male worker in a fast food restaurant died by electrocution on the job. The worker, who had 15 months’ work experience at this restaurant, was electrocuted while kneeling to insert the plug of a portable electric toaster into a 110-12OV/20 amp outlet on a floor which had recently been damp-mopped. The victim was found convulsing. He had one hand on the plug, and the other on the receptacle box. Another worker who attempted to “take the pulse” of the victim received an electrical shock but was not injured.
When the assistant manager saw what was happening, he went to the breaker box to shut off the current but was unable to locate the appropriate breaker. The emergency rescue squad was called, and before they arrived, the proper circuit breaker was located and thrown. By that time, the victim had been in contact with the electricity for three to eight minutes. Attempts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) by fellow workers and members of the emergency rescue squad were unsuccessful; the victim was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.
The specific events that resulted in this electrocution could not be defined with absolute precision. However, investigators from NIOSH concluded that while the victim was inserting the plug of the toaster into the receptacle with his right hand and holding open the grounded metal receptacle cover with his left hand, the index finger of his right hand touched an energized prong of the plug and he received an electrical shock across the chest.
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