Tree Trimming Groundsman Electrocuted after Grasping a Guy Wire that Contacted an Energized Guy Wire in Virginia: FACE 90-34

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  A 20 year old male tree trimming groundsman was electrocuted when he grabbed a guy wire causing it to contact an energized conductor on a utility pole. The employer was a tree service company which had a contract to keep an electric utility right of way clear of brush and trees. On the day of the incident, a five man crew was clearing brush and trees. The victim had completed cutting brush and trees from around the guy wire which was secured to a utility pole at one end and to a steel rod anchored in the ground at the other end. He laid the chain saw he was using on the ground. He grasped the butt of a fallen tree with one hand, and the guy wire with the other hand. When he grasped the guy wire, it swayed, due to approximately 8 inches of slack in the wire, and contacted an uninsulated jumper wire which connected a 1 amp fuse to a 14,400 volt powerline. It is recommended that a jobsite survey be conducted before starting any job to identify potential hazards and implement appropriate controls ; that existing safety programs be reviewed and revised to include measures that enable workers to recognize and control hazards ; and that utility companies avoid placing transformers and jumper wires on utility poles in close proximity to unguarded, uninsulated guy wires.
• Content Notes:
  Publication date provided by the authoring office. There is no publication date indicated on the resource.
• Subjects:
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Electric Injuries
  • Electricity
  • Occupational Health
  • Occupational Injuries
  • Safety
• Keywords:
  • OSHA Region 5
  • FACE-90-34
  • Accident-analysis
  • Electrical-hazards
  • Occupational-accidents
  • Electric-power-transmission-lines
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Electrocution ; Landscaping Services
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  NIOSH (In-House) ; Worker Deaths by Electrocution: NIOSH 2000-115 ; Worker Deaths by Electrocution: NIOSH 98-131
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFACE9034
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Virginia ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  3 pages
• Volume:
  1990
• Issue:
  34
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00206143
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB92-183862
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 90-34 ; 1990 Dec ; :1-6
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1991
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  56 - Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1990/05/07
• Resource Number:
  FACE 90-34
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/164335/cdc_164335_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 250.35 KB]
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:790188840ea6739e49f8d550058b348414f75a2e630ef1cfdc2266cfbc030c75554ceb1ed922183f2041f06e4cce522f43588990f9d8cdd7c22bec226ea470fb