Electrician Electrocuted After Contacting Energized Equipment

Details

• Personal Author:
  Boyle, Debora ; Madery, Georjean ; Parker, David L.
• Corporate Authors:
  Minnesota Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Program (MN FACE) ; Minnesota. Department of Health
• Description:
  A 27-year-old male journeyman electrician (victim) was electrocuted when he contacted an energized unit of a potato transport system. The five individual units of the system - an accumulator, two conveyor tables, a telescoping conveyor table, and a piler - were mechanically joined to form a 198-foot long transport system used to move potatoes from delivery trucks into a warehouse. The victim and a coworker were making repairs to the control circuit of the system and reconnecting a remote stop switch. At some time in the past, a green colored wire in the control circuit had been used as a current carrying conductor. It was inadequately marked as such along the circuit and, unknown to the electricians, had been connected to another green wire in the system ground circuit. Due to existing circumstances during the repair work, the accumulator and a conveyor table frame were energized with a 277 volt potential as a result of the improper wiring connection. When the victim grabbed a hand hold on the accumulator to board it during troubleshooting, he provided a path to ground and was electrocuted. He called out for help and the coworker, seeing the victim was in trouble, disconnected power to the transport system and summoned medical help. Despite CPR attempts the victim died of his injuries. MN FACE investigators concluded that to prevent similar occurrences, employers should: 1. ensure that all ungrounded conductors are labelled according to applicable standards as recommended by the National Electrical Code. 2. ensure that electrical equipment is grounded according to applicable standards as recommended by the National Electrical Code.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Electric Injuries Electricity Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Electric-properties Electrical-conductivity Electrical-equipment Electrical-hazards Electrical-industry Electrical-properties Electrical-safety Electrical-workers Electrocutions Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 5 Protective-measures Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Electrocution
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE93MN011
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Minnesota ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027392
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2012-112942
• 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 93MN011, 1994 Mar ; :1-4
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1994
• Performing Organization:
  Minnesota Department of Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:454fe49bad040a6453108bff86bb08c5da569005bebe39b14a809e5fa97cc43651e5e4e9d6a9e518733af67a61bf6e1e96700235406a2a6d2ea80b663d7f85d5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/167211/cdc_167211_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 29.29 KB ]