Landscaper Working from a Raised Portable Work Platform Was Electrocuted When a Pole Saw Contacts Overhead Power Line - Massachusetts

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Project (Massachusetts FACE) ; Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  On August 20, 2013, a 26-year-old male landscaper/foreman (victim) employed by a landscaping company was electrocuted while trimming tree branches from a portable work platform. The victim had been using a pole saw to trim the branches. At some point the top section of the pole saw came in contact with energized overhead power lines and the victim was electrocuted and then his clothes ignited. There were two co-workers on site at the time of the incident. They both heard a popping noise and noticed that the victim was being electrocuted. They went to the work platform and could feel the electric current so they got the work truck and used it to push the work platform away from the overhead power lines. At the same time, two different home owners placed calls for emergency medical services (EMS). EMS, the fire department and the local police arrived at the incident location within minutes. The work platform was lowered and the victim was transported to a med-flight helicopter and brought to a large regional trauma center where he died of his injuries later that day. Contributing factors identified in this investigation included employees working within 10 feet of and coming in contact with energized overhead power lines, and that the company did not have an Injury and Illness Prevention Program (I2P2) and did not provide health and safety training. The Massachusetts FACE Program concluded that to prevent similar occurrences in the future, employers should: 1. Ensure employees remain at least 10 feet away from any energized power lines located on worksites and provide training about the hazards of power lines and appropriate personal protective equipment
  
  2. Ensure that only "line-clearance tree trimmers" and power companies trim, access and maintain trees that are within 10 feet of energized overhead power lines
  
  and 3. Develop, implement, and enforce an Injury and Illness Prevention Program (I2P2) that addresses hazard recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions. In addition, home owners and property owners should contact power companies and/or "line-clearance tree trimmers" to maintain trees that are within 10 feet of energized power lines.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Electric Injuries Electricity Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Staff Development Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Electric-power-transmission-lines Electrical-hazards Electrical-shock Injuries Injury-prevention Landscape-services-workers OSHA Region 1 Safety-education Safety-measures Safety-practices Safety-programs Training Traumatic-injuries Work-environment Work-operations

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Electrocution ; Landscaping Services
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE13MA019
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-12
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20045910
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2015-104116
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 13MA019, 2015 Jan ; :1-12
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Performing Organization:
  Massachusetts State Department of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  56 - Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2005/07/01
• End Date:
  2026/06/30
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:35aa375579178b1d75443e3257bd81f5fa72760f82cb24242594ce7b4bebddd0c934237a8056b9be07258fb21812e3e2e43b40be1000e052bdde2c906bb08e3f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/165089/cdc_165089_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.53 MB ]