High School Maintenance Worker Electrocuted After Contacting a 277 Volt Electrical Cable

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 July 7, 1995, a 28-year-old male maintenance worker was electrocuted while working in a public school building. The incident occurred in the office area of a high school during the alteration of a wall for the construction of an alcove for a copying machine. The victim had just started the project and had removed a section of sheetrock when he discovered an electrical cable behind the wall leading from a light switch to the overhead fluorescent lights. He notified his supervisor who looked over the problem and instructed him to disconnect the power at the breaker box and to wait until he got back before he proceeded. After the supervisor left, the victim dismantled the light switch box and pulled the cable out of the wall. The victim was apparently stripping the wires on the cable when he contacted 277 volts, electrocuting him. NJDOH FACE investigators concluded that, in order to prevent similar incidents in the future, these safety guidelines should be followed: 1. Employers should develop, implement, and enforce an electrical lock-out, tag-out procedure. 2. Employers and employees should ensure that all electrical circuits are de-energized and tested before working on them. 3. Employers should be aware of educational and training resources for health and safety information.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Electric Injuries Electricity Health Promotion Maintenance Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Staff Development

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Electric-properties Electrical-conductivity Electrical-hazards Electrical-safety Electrical-systems Electrocutions Health-programs Injuries Injury-prevention Maintenance-workers OSHA Region 2 Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-practices Safety-programs Training Traumatic-injuries Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Electrocution ; Prevention through Design (PtD)
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE95NJ070
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• 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:
  4 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026613
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2014-105062
• 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 95NJ070, 1995 Nov ; :1-4
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1996
• Performing Organization:
  New Jersey Department of Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  61 - Educational Services - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  2005/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:746e73411ddda0c70137e9131ffac9cff36d62277bd78e23d9a3a9460c7e8dbd66580f045ca978200cc213ed4a8a4330f54d7b518081b0c87d4f28546e298a30
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/170059/cdc_170059_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 68.12 KB ]