Services Injury Narrative: Service Technicians Receive Electrical Burns When Electricity Arcs from Power Line to Boom Lift

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  Two technicians servicing an articulating boom lift at a construction job site received electrical burns when electricity arced from a power line to the lift. The incident happened in the parking lot of a distribution center under construction. A construction contractor had rented the lift and found that it was not working due to a leak in its hydraulic line. They contacted the rental company, which then contacted a hydraulic and industrial hose repair service. The repair service sent two experienced service technicians to repair the lift. After they repaired the hydraulic line, they decided to test that the repair had been successful. The technicians were focused on their task and did not notice the high voltage 69 kV power transmission line 36 feet above the ground overhead. The day was overcast with intermittent showers, which may have affected their ability to see the power line. From the ground, one technician operated the lift's controls to elevate the boom. The other stood behind the lift to check for a hydraulic fluid leak. As the technician raised the boom, it came near to the power line, but did not touch it. Electrical current arced from the line to the lift basket's wet metal railing and traveled through the lift's frame into the parking lot asphalt where the technicians were standing. The shirt of the technician standing behind the lift caught fire and he received electrical burn wounds to his upper body and left foot. The other technician received electrical burns to his fingers. Both were hospitalized; one worker returned to work after several days, the other after several weeks. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Construction Industry
  • Electricity
  • Mortality
  • Occupational Health
  • Safety
  • Safety Management
• Keywords:
  • Fatalities
  • Injuries
  • Injury prevention
  • Traumatic injuries
  • Safety
  • Safety measures
  • Safety practices
  • Safety monitoring
  • Hazards
  • Construction
  More +
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20058932
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-192-2020, 2020 Mar; :1
• Contact Point Address:
  Safety and Health Assessment and Research for Prevention (SHARP) Program, Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Services injury narrative: service technicians receive electrical burns when electricity arcs from power line to boom lift
• End Date:
  20260630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228937/cdc_228937_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 579.96 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:28618e9e6958f97ffb7c665c6613d8c8a84c72ce773ea4d19c23482b506b8ae949401a717428dd4402e3f56b911c45a61bfc5fee273745a1d25f7e9eb59a9833