Electrical Helper Electrocuted After Contacting 460 Volts While Servicing an Overhead Light Fixture

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  New Jersey Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Project (NJ FACE) ; New Jersey. Department of Health and Senior Services. Occupational Health Service
• Description:
  On August 1, 1995, a 36-year-old electrician's helper was electrocuted after cutting an electrical wire carrying 460 volts. The incident occurred in a retail store fitting room where the victim and a co-worker were replacing the overhead florescent light tubes and ballast transformers. The victim had set up a fiberglass ladder in a fitting room and was standing on it as he cut a wire with an insulated wire cutter. As he cut the live wire, he contacted the energized metal cutter while leaning against the grounded metal fitting room door frame. A co-worker saw the victim being shocked and broke the contact by clipping the wire, at which time the victim collapsed against the door frame. NJDOH FACE investigators concluded that, in order to prevent similar incidents in the future, these safety guidelines should be followed: 1. Employers should ensure that company lock-out/tag-out procedures are strictly enforced. 2. Only properly trained and authorized employees should be permitted to work on live electrical circuits. 3. All electrical workers should be trained in electrical rescue techniques and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
• Subjects:
  • Accident Prevention
  • Accidents
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Electric Injuries
  • Electricity
  • Occupational Health
  • Safety
  • Safety Management
  • Staff Development
• Keywords:
  • Accident-analysis
  • Accident-potential
  • Accident-prevention
  • Accidents
  • Injuries
  • Injury-prevention
  • Safety-education
  • Safety-equipment
  • Safety-practices
  • Safety-measures
  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Electrocution ; Hispanic ; Foreign Born Workers ; Prevention through Design (PtD)
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE95NJ080
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  New Jersey ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  6 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026614
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2013-100013
• 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 95NJ080, 1996 Mar ; :1-5
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1996
• Performing Organization:
  New Jersey Department of Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  2005/08/31
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/170058/cdc_170058_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 24.57 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8af3a88ee5f334fb09e06a44611230541c89085eed87512a2e5d8efeaf44cb94be9c0fd9975f202e4e33ee00161f16ecc6a489142aa00631386ec0d886e0f19a