Line Technician Electrocuted During Power Restoration Following Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  A 58 year old male line technician employed by a utility company was electrocuted while working to restore electrical service in South Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Hugo. He and a coworker had cleared debris from a pole mounted three phase 7200 volt powerline and requested that the three phases be energized, thinking the problems were resolved. However, a problem still existed and the workers began to search for the problem without having the lines deenergized. The middle phase had been pulled down into a guy wire by storm debris. After climbing a pole, the victim called for a pair of pliers but declined the offer of a hard hat. While maneuvering between the powerlines, with his feet on the neutral wire, the back of his head contacted an energized jumper wire and he was electrocuted. It is recommended that during emergency operations, extra emphasis be placed on strict adherence to all safety procedures, that the company reevaluate its procedures relating to the deenergization of powerlines, and that company policy require workers to visually inspect an entire circuit that has been deenergized for maintenance prior to energizing that circuit.
• 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 Exposure Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Electric-power-transmission-lines Electrical-burns Electrical-hazards FACE-90-08 Occupational-hazards OSHA Region 4 Personal-protective-equipment
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Electrocution
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  NIOSH (In-House)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFACE9008
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  South Carolina ; OSHA Region 4
• 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
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00206123
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB92-183896
• 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 90-08, 1990 Jun ; :1-5
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1990
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  22 - Utilities - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1989/10/11
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b346df1a7cd5490ea0b5427a39a69c2a31d59b3e39eecdc8cbefcd8b34e297b4bcf32005a9e272c04851408219b3a15aef6133a64d001103b3da26d0f4c53bfe
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/164354/cdc_164354_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 260.43 KB ]