National Guardsman Electrocuted in West Virginia

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  A National Guardsman was electrocuted when he climbed a tower supporting 46,000 volt transmission lines and contacted a jumper wire. The Guard had been requested to demolish the tower by a regional power company. When National Guard demolition experts and a power company representative visited the site, the demolition experts were warned that the power lines were energized, and that a power company representative should be present when Guard personnel visited the site. It was decided that the demolition work would be completed by the Guard and electrical work would be completed by the power company. The demolition experts briefed the detachment assigned the demolition task. The detachment commander and three detachment members visited the tower without official permission and without notifying the power company. The commander climbed the tower, contacted a jumper wire on a 46,000 volt power line, received a shock and fell to the ground
  
  he subsequently died. Members of the detachment stated that they believed the power lines on the tower were deenergized. No warning signs were posted. Recommendations arising from this accident include making workers aware of all hazards at a work site prior to starting any work, adhering strictly to outlined safe work procedures, equipping climbable towers supporting energized lines with barriers, and posting these locations with appropriate warning signs.
  
  
• 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 Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Electric-power-transmission-lines Electrical-hazards Electrical-shock FACE-86-49 Military-personnel OSHA Region 3 Safety-practices
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Electrocution
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  NIOSH (In-House)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFACE8649
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  West 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
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00174346
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB88-154893
• 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 86-49, 1987 Feb ; :1-4
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1987
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  22 - Utilities - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1986/08/02
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8dca79ae6e93a8a379fa3cdcf2658d28d090554321843719edf970210a125f358cb3fe523bd9c94b82fed48430f33c5248103e4111d75db69ca2b4526d1d5ee8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/164422/cdc_164422_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 228.07 KB ]