Electrical Accidents page 5

Electrical Accidents #5

This page was last updated on  05/06/2010

UPDATE OPPD looking into work-site accidents
BY NANCY GAARDER WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER 
The Omaha Public Power District is in the midst of its second investigation in two months of a serious workplace accident involving apprentice line technicians. Last week, a lineman was critically burned when a live wire came in contact with the elevated bucket he was standing in. Last month, a worker died when he fell from a power pole. “These are a tragedy,” said Ron Morrison, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 763. “But it’s not something that appears to be a pattern, at least I hope it isn’t.” Morrison said he has confidence in OPPD’s commitment to the safety of his membership. Because OPPD is a public entity, its accidents are not investigated by the U.S. Occupational, Safety and Health Administration. Instead, accidents are investigated by an internal committee. Cynthia Buettner, spokeswoman for OPPD, said the committee includes representatives of management, labor and someone with direct knowledge of the work involved. Buettner said the investigation into last week’s ccident remains under way, so the details are not available. ark O’Connor, 35, is in fair condition at the Clarkson Hospital burn unit. He was working with two crews – six other people – near 43rd and Burt Streets on Jan. 16 when he was injured. In December, Michael Johnson died after he fell from a pole near Ceresco, Neb. The investigation into that accident indicated that all safety guidelines and equipment were in place, Buettner said. Both O’Connor and Johnson had extensive training, she said. They had taken two years of course work before joining OPPD in late 2001. The apprenticeship itself takes four years. 

Two workers jolted by 14,400-volt line
The men were installing a new line that became energized when the far end brushed another line in use, an official said. 
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET, Times Staff Writer St. Petersburg Times, published January 24, 2003 
WESLEY CHAPEL — A jolt from a 14,400-volt live wire sent two Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative workers to the hospital Thursday morning. Carl Smith Jr., 37, of Spring Hill is in serious condition at Tampa General Hospital. His co-worker, Scott Yeager, 29, of Ridge Manor, was treated and released Thursday evening, hospital spokesman John Dunn said. Smith, an apprentice lineman, took the brunt of the shock about 9:30 a.m. while trying to install a new line just inside the Seven Oaks subdivision on County Road 581, a couple of miles south of State Road 54. The new line had no electricity running through it — that is, until one end brushed up against an energized wire at the cooperative’s Saddlebrook substation, Pasco County Fire Marshal Larry Whitten said. The contact with the 14,400-volt overhead line created a “fireball” at the substation, but did not injure a nearby employee hoisted in a bucket truck, Whitten said. That employee’s name was not available Thursday. “He was checked out by paramedics, and other than being shaken up by the whole thing, he appeared to be okay,” Whitten said. But the crossing of the wires sent a powerful jolt to the other end of the line, which Smith was handling on the ground, Whitten said. Yeager, another apprentice lineman standing nearby, also received an electrical shock, he said. Both men were taken by helicopter to the hospital. Yeager came on board with the company in August 2000, and Smith was hired in December 2001, cooperative spokesman Ernie Holzhauer said. Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative’s safety officials are investigating the incident, Holzhauer said. “They’re looking into all aspects so we can disseminate information to our employees to prevent another accident like this from happening,” he said. 

Kings Mountain man electrocuted while trimming tree
Associated Press
KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. – A man was killed over the weekend when he touched a power line while trying to trim a tree, police said. David Allen Parker, 33, of Kings Mountain, was climbing a ladder when he came in contact with a primary power line that carried 7,200 volts of electricity, Kings Mountain Police Department Sgt. R.S. Davis said. Parker was pronounced dead at Kings Mountain Hospital. A friend holding the ladder for Parker suffered neck and back injuries when Parker fell, Davis said. His name and condition weren’t available. Parker, who worked for a gutter company, was a father of four. He and his fiancee were expecting a child, according to his family.

Worker critical following shock 
Tuesday, January 21, 2003 By KATHERINE BLOK The Express-Times 
WASHINGTON — A mid-morning fire on Monday has sent one man to the hospital, police said. A fire broke out at Cebal America on Route 31 about 11:30 a.m. Monday, police said. The building is commonly known as the former American Can facility. The fire started when a factory employee, Ernie Meshach of Lopatcong Township, was electrically shocked, said fire Chief Steve Alpaugh. Alpaugh said the cause of the electrical shock is unknown. The incident is under investigation. Meshach was transported by helicopter to the burn unit at St. Barnabas Hospital in Livingston, N.J. He was listed in critical condition Monday evening. Cardboard boxes and plastic materials in the area where Meshach was working caught fire, but it was controlled and extinguished by the factory’s industrial sprinkler system, Alpaugh said. Cebal America shut down for the remainder of the morning shift, but was expected to resume business for the afternoon shift, Alpaugh said. Representatives of Cebal America could not be reached Monday. 

UPDATE, Conectiv must pay injured house painter $5.1 million
By RENEE WINKLER Courier-Post staff
A jury awarded $5.1 million in damages to a Gloucester County house painter who was partially paralyzed on the job when an exposed electrical line shocked him. Tom Litka, 44, was painting the exterior of a home down the street from his own Franklinville residence when the accident happened June 10, 2000. He fell from a ladder and was shocked by an uninsulated power line attached to a utility pole at the house. Litka broke 15 bones, including several ribs, his backbone and sternum. One bone severed his spine, paralyzing him from the chest down, said his attorney, John Mininno. After four months of hospitalization and physical rehabilitation, Litka must use a wheelchair to move around and rely on friends and family for his care, according to testimony at the trial before Superior Court Judge Charles Little. The power line was installed and maintained by Wilmington, Del.-based Conectiv, which provides electrical service in the Franklin Township area. The company was the defendant in Litka’s suit. Litka expressed gratitude after the verdict Friday that New Jersey doesn’t impose caps on judgments in civil cases. “He needs constant care, professional care, and this will pay for it,” Mininno said. The attorney declined further comment. Conectiv also declined to comment on the suit. The Camden County jury awarded damages of about $7.2 million – $4 million for pain and suffering and the balance for Litka’s medical expenses. Jurors found that Litka was 30 percent responsible for his injury, reducing the amount Conectiv must pay to $5.1 million.

5 suffer burns in transformer blast
Express New Service
Pune, January 14: FIVE persons, one of them an MSEB employee and four workers from Smash Electrical Company, suffered high-degree burns from boiling oil when an electrical transformer exploded at the Joshi Hospital on Bhandarkar Road on Tuesday. PMC chief fire officer L N Raut said the workers from Smash had installed the 200 KV transformer on the hospital campus just a few minutes before the explosion. The injured MSEB staffer was supervising the work. The transformer exploded within seconds after the workers switched on the power supply, Raut said. The injured include MSEB staffer Shakil Shaikh and Smash workers Abhijit Joglekar, Padmanabhan, Bhosale and Mahajan. They have been admitted to Joshi hospital. All five were reported to be in serious condition.

Jackhammer Accident In Waterbury
Waterbury – A workman remains in critical condition after an accident in Waterbury. Authorities say Otamir Cordera was using a jackhammer to dig a trench across Phoenix Avenue yesterday, when he struck a power line. Cordera suffered severe electrical burns to his face. He was rushed to St. Mary’s Hospital. Cordera worked for Green Mountain Communications. The accident is under investigation. 

Construction worker electrocuted
By a Staff Writer
JEDDAH, 13 January 2003 — Yahya Saleh, a Yemeni national, was killed by high voltage electricity while working on a building site in Jizan, Okaz daily reported yesterday. He was climbing a ladder when he touched the wires and then fell, seriously injuring his head. Firefighters rushed to the scene to investigate and assist Yahya, but he was dead when they arrived. His body was taken to a nearby hospital. By a Staff Writer

UPDATE, Downtown on temporary generator
By JOHN REZANKA — News Reporter 
A 4,000-volt power line “flashed” while a ComEd worker from Joliet used a torch to melt lead off spliced power lines in order to gain access to and test them for faults. Hettrick described a “flash” as a huge electrical spark which gives off heat in its immediate vicinity, similar to the effect a person would get by standing near a firework when it detonates. The worker was immediately transported to St. Mary’s Hospital for treatment, where it was determined his injury, a redness similar to a sunburn on one side of the face, was minor. The worker was wearing all his safety gear, a fact which helped protect him from serious injury, Hettrick noted. “He was given a clean bill of health and returned to work yesterday afternoon.” Rather than proceed with underground investigation after the accident, Hettrick said ComEd determined it was safer to cut power to the underground lines and use a temporary generator to supply power to downtown Streator. “We are proceeding cautiously to make sure it’s safe for our workers,” Hettrick said. “In order to safely reopen the manhole, we need to cut power to downtown Streator and use the generator as an alternate source of power.” The two-megawatt diesel generator, which fills a specially designed semi trailer and can produce enough electricity to serve a medium-sized community, arrived at the Walgreens’ north parking lot Thursday morning. It will remain there until ComEd can locate the underground problem. Under the best case scenario, Hettrick said workers may be able to find and fix the problem in the underground power lines today. However, depending on what workers find in the underground vault, it could take several more days. As far as the impact to electricity users in the downtown area, Hettrick said the switch from underground power lines to the generator should not result in any power outages or power surges. “It should be seamless,” he said. “We will power up the generator before we cut power to the underground lines.” The only anticipated impact to customers will occur when crews switch back from the generator to the regular power lines, Hettrick said. Customers in the downtown area will probably experience an outage of about one-minute as workers manually reconnect to power lines. Workers at the site Thursday spent the remainder of the day testing the generator to make sure it was properly phased. This morning, they restarted the generator and connected it to power lines serving the downtown area. In order to meet the electrical needs of the downtown area, the generator will run at about 25 percent of its peak capacity.

Electrical Workers Burned by 12,000 Volt Flash
Two electrical workers were severely burned Wednesday morning while installing heating and air conditioning equipment at a Sacramento-area Kmart store. The accident happened at the store at Cottage and Howe Avenue at about 11:15 a.m. The workers were replacing equipment on the roof of the store and went down to a utility room to energize the equipment. When they turned it on, a 12,000 volt flash burned the workers. The two men received second and third-degree burns. The current did not go through their bodies, so they did not receive an electrical shock. The flash was so enormous that it tripped a SMUD breaker nearby and shut off power to the Kmart store. Crews are checking the equipment before turning power back on. The store remains closed.

UPDATE, Luverne sued for two electric accidents
By: Franny White, Daily Globe January 07, 2003
One man died, another lost a hand because of Luverne’s errors, lawsuits allege
LUVERNE – “Substandard, negligent and dangerous” work by City of Luverne employees caused the 2001 electrocution death of a man installing cable on a Luverne power pole, a lawsuit alleges. The family of Brad Gerald Herr, who was fatally electrocuted Oct. 10, 2001, while installing cable near the National Guard Armory at 309 S. Freeman Ave., is suing the city for $750,000. In an additional legal action, Luverne employees failed to de-energize high-voltage equipment on Dec. 3, 2001, causing the electrocution of a Fulda Electric Service, Inc., employee, a separate lawsuit alleges. Fulda Electric is suing Luverne for $50,000 to compensate for the higher workers’ compensation premiums it claims to have paid because of the latter accident. Pete Regnier, an attorney representing Luverne through League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust, said “the city denies liability in the cases” but refused further comment Monday, citing the case was ongoing. Luverne will file a formal response to the Brad Herr lawsuit by February and will request an extension to respond to the Fulda Electric lawsuit, Regnier said. Herr, of Waubay, S.D., was an employee of RCH Cable Sales Company of the Midwest, Inc., and was hired by Mediacom, LLC, to pull traps along cable lines for digital cable service at the time of the accident. According to his family’s lawsuit, Herr “came into contact with an energized vertical ground wire that was not connected to a suitable grounding electrode,” resulting in Herr’s electrocution. Another accident occurred on the same power pole in September 2001 that burned and shocked a different Mediacom employee, the lawsuit claims. Afterward, Luverne “did not take appropriate measures to remedy the lines and equipment,” the lawsuit says. Fulda Electric was subcontracting work for Luverne when Fulda Electric employee Phillip Kramer was working at the west Luverne substation, where Kramer was electrocuted with 14,000 volts. The accident occurred because of Luverne’s “failure to properly de-energize the high-voltge electrical equipment” before Kramer began work at the substation, the lawsuit alleges. Kramer lost his left hand and part of his forearm because of the accident, Fulda Electric CEO Don Welling said. As a result of both incidents, three Luverne employees have been reprimanded, Luverne City Administrator Matt Hylen said. A senior lineman received two verbal reprimands, while another senior lineman was suspended for two days. Public Utilities Director Red Arndt was also suspended for five days. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined Luverne $2,000 for the fatal electrocution, which OSHA called a “serious” violation. OSHA also fined Luverne $56,000 for two “willful” violations in the Fulda Electric electrocution. Hylen said the two electrocutions were the “first bad incidents that have happened” during his seven years of employment with the city.

Coffee workers electrocuted in truck
Six Nicaraguan coffee workers have been electrocuted while travelling in a truck. The incident happened near La Dalia after a 15-year-old worker accidentally touched an electric wire. Jose Ruden Perez reached out to catch his cap as it flew away, and lost his right hand to electric burns but survived. Some 100 workers were traveling in the truck on the way to coffee field 110 miles north of the capital Managua. Six were electrocuted and another 30 sustained injuries. Government officials have promised to help the victims.

UPDATE, Wheelan to accept GLP offer; Money will never repair anguish he’s endured, triple amputee says 
By RACHEL PUNCH January 06, 2003
Local News – Lewis Wheelan, who lost both legs and an arm in an electrical accident while clearing brush for Great Lakes Power Ltd. two years ago, says he plans to accept the company’s latest offer of financial assistance. GLP sent Wheelan a letter just before Christmas last month, offering a new deal of $3,000 per month plus a two-per-cent increase annually. Any money that Wheelan earns before May 30, 2007, would be taken off his settlement. Wheelan said he is prepared to accept, but feels GLP took far too long to work out the arrangement. The 20-year-old says it will never repair the mental and physical anguish he has endured. “I think that’s nothing compared to what I’ve been through,” said Wheelan on Saturday during an interview from his parents’ home in Sault Ste. Marie, where he was visiting for the holidays. “It’s very tough because no one understands how I feel. It’s torture.” Wheelan was working on a summer job with a tree-cutting contractor on May 30, 2001, when a tree crashed through a power line that had been left live. Electrical burns, as a result of 7,200 volts of electricity running through his body, cost Wheelan his right arm, right shoulder and both legs. The contractor, Neatside Vegetation, had been hired by GLP to clear brush. Initially, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board offered Wheelan $288 a week, about $15,000 net income a year, until he turns 65. The Wheelans rejected the offer from WSIB. GLP offered to pay for Wheelan’s education and give him a job, but he felt he deserved more. Wheelan said Colin Clark, president of GLP, visited him in hospital in Toronto on March 13, 2002 and told him he was top priority to the company. In June 2002, GLP made him another offer but Wheelan didn’t accept it. Wheelan said he outlined to GLP in July what he wanted. Wheelan also said that during prior negotiations, GLP was attempting to get him to tell the media how co-operative the company was. “They were trying to coax me into signing a contract that said I would go into The Sault Star and say that they (GLP representatives) were nice guys.” When contacted for comment on Saturday, Clark said, “I’m not prepared to discuss anything with the media right now. My company is having private discussions with Lewis and his family and endeavoring to assist him, and that’s all I’m prepared to say.” Wheelan was attending Sir Wilfrid Laurier University when the accident happened. Since then, he has completed a distance-education course while living in Toronto and is a student in the Faculty of Arts at York University. He lives on his own in an apartment in North York. “I can live mostly independent, but it is still very difficult to deal with. It’s still pretty tough,” he said. “I’d like to thank all the people from Sault Ste. Marie and all over Ontario who have supported me through this. I’d also like to thank my close friends.”

UPDATE, Company fined in double death
Associated Press January 3, 2003
MERIDEN, Conn. — The federal safety regulators have proposed a $10,850 fine against a New Haven company that employed two men who were electrocuted while washing bricks on a Meriden city building. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration Thursday proposed the fine against Milestone Restoration Inc. for violations of state standards including insufficient training in the use of a boom crane. Eugenio Torres, 47, and Hector Leon, 50, both of New Haven, were killed Oct. 2 while power washing the Stoddard Municipal Building. The two men were working in the bucket of a boom crane when they came in contact with high voltage wires running from the building. Representative of Milestone will meet with OSHA next week to discuss the violations. Milestone will have the options of paying the fines, reaching a settlement with OSHA or appealing the citations in court.

UPDATE, Lakeland Agrees To Pay Widow; City worker’s estate gets largest settlement allowed without a suit.
By Rick Rousos The Ledger
LAKELAND — The city of Lakeland will pay a $200,000 settlement to the family of Marc Moore, the city utility worker electrocuted on Aug. 26, attorneys said Friday. In exchange, Moore’s family will waive its rights to sue the city. The $200,000 payment — the most lucrative allowed under Florida law without a plea to the Legislature -will come from city coffers because Lakeland is self-insured. That money does not include $100,000 already paid to Moore’s estate from the city’s workers’ compensation self-insurance fund. Four other utility workers were treated for minor injuries in the accident near Reynolds Road that killed the 31-year-old Moore, a special equipment operator. Moore was helping to install a 40foot utility pole when part of a crane hit a live wire, sending between 450 and 550 volts toward the damp ground. “This (settlement) at least puts the legal part of this tragedy behind us,” City Attorney Tim McCausland told city commissioners Friday morning during an informal meeting. Commissioners are expected to approve the settlement Monday morning, without discussion. The item has been placed along with several others on what is called the consent agenda, meaning commissioners will vote on all of them at once, without debate. The settlement will be paid in the absence of a lawsuit, which would have been filed had the settlement not been reached. The $200,000 settlement was the most Tracy Moore could be paid by the city in a lawsuit settlement because of state limits on awards, known as sovereign immunity caps. Governments in Florida can be sued, but the Legislature has put limits on the amount of money plaintiffs can collect. The only way Tracy Moore could possibly have been paid more than the $200,000 was to take the case to trial and be awarded more by a jury. However, any award in excess of $200,000 would have required petitioning the Legislature for approval. “Bottom line, the odds were very high that litigation would have resulted in no additional recovery — or $100,000 at best,” Kent Lilly, Tracy Moore’s attorney, said Friday. “Since the settlement permits retention of the workers’ compensation benefits, the total of $300,000 is a bestcase scenario from a financial standpoint. “While the money doesn’t come close to fairly and adequately compensating the Moore family for their tremendous loss, it’s the best resolution possible . . .” Lilly said McCausland and the city have acted in good faith and shown considerable decency toward Tracy Moore and her two young sons. “They could have taken a whole different approach to this, especially with the workers’ comp thing, and fought it till the cows came home — but they didn’t,” Lilly said. “We would have had an uphill battle, not because of the facts of the case, but because of the caps.” Also, soon after Moore’s death, city commissioners voted to establish a $10,000 educational trust fund for each of the Moores’ two young sons. Tracy Moore could not be reached Friday to comment. However, one of her main concerns since her husband’s death has been seeing that the safety practices of the utility and its line workers improve. An investigative report prepared by J. B. Shepherd and Associates of Windermere criticized the workers’ failure to follow established policies and procedures in the the accident. “They have assured me that they recognize internal problems, and they are correcting them,” Lilly said. “It’s important that they do better in protecting the guys that are still there.” He said Tracy Moore keeps in touch with some linemen and has so far been satisfied that positive changes are being made. 

UPDATE, Faulty cable caused Watts Bar fire: TVA report
Faulty insulation around an electrical cable caused the September fire that injured five people and damaged the hydroelectric station near the Watts Bar nuclear plant, according to a Tennessee Valley Authority investigation. The investigation results, which were released Friday, conclude that an arc extending from the cable to a metal grate ignited the insulation Sept. 27. The ensuing fire caused an estimated $30 million in damage to the station, which serves as a backup power source for the nuclear plant and provides electricity to the entire TVA power grid. The fire destroyed equipment in a control building and a cable shaft that runs from the building to the Tennessee River. TVA hopes to have the five units at Watts Bar Dam producing power by the spring, said spokesman Gil Francis. “We would love to be getting the hydro-generation from that plant because it’s low-cost generation,” he said. Despite Watts Bar’s four-month hiatus, TVA has generated more hydroelectric power overall through increased production t its 28 other stations, Francis said. Heavy rain in 2002 has benefited the public utility, he said. The fire has not disrupted the dam’s effect on the Tennessee River, TVA officials said. “We are continuing to operate the dam for flood control and release water to maintain downstream aquatic habitats, and to meet navigation and cooling-water requirements,” Janet Herrin, TVA’s senior vice president of river operations, said in a statement. The fire was first detected when control-room employees saw smoke pouring into their work area. Twenty-five employees were inside the plant at the time. Five workers were taken to a local hospital treated for smoke inhalation. An investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found no criminal involvement in the fire at the plant, which dates back to 1942 and has a generation capacity of 145 megawatts. Francis said TVA is increasing inspections and emergency response procedures at its other plants to avoid a similar situation. TVA provides electricity to some 8.3 million people in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. Spring City is about 50 miles south of Knoxville.

UPDATE, Company fined $12,000 after worker suffers serious burns
Watercare Services Ltd was fined $12,000 in the Auckland District Court today after an accident last year. The company was prosecuted by the Occupational Safety and Health Service (OSH) under the Health and Safety in Employment Act. “This was an horrific accident that left a contractor with severe burns over most of his body including his face, chest, arms and hands, said OSH Auckland Service Manager, John Forrest. “New Zealanders being harmed at work is simply unacceptable. In this case it is unlikely the victim will ever return to work. “The worker suffered serious injuries from an 11KV electrical flashover while working on switchboard equipment at the Mangere wastewater treatment plant. “The judge commented that the accident would not have happened had Watercare’s safety procedures been properly adhered to, a permit for the work obtained, and the necessary isolation carried out. “Everyone has the right to go to work and be safe. Companies must ensure that workplace hazards are identified and controlled correctly, and that safety systems are constantly reviewed and updated, and that staff are trained and supervised.” Further Information: John Forrest, Service Manager, Auckland, OSH, Tel: 09 525 0268 Mobile: 027 201 9768

ComEd worker electrocuted
By Rhonda Sciarra Daily Herald Staff Writer December 29, 2002 
ComEd officials said Saturday they are investigating the death of an Addison father of four who was electrocuted Friday while working on power lines in Schiller Park. Jorge Mijares, 42, was pronounced dead at a Melrose Park hospital 40 minutes after the 10 a.m. “freak accident” in the 4000 block of Scott Avenue, Schiller Park police Sgt. Tom Belpedio and ComEd spokesman Tim Lindberg said. Mijares, an 18-year employee with ComEd, was in a cherry picker that came in contact with a live power line, they said. A hole was burned through the cherry picker basket that had lifted Mijares and another worker to the power lines, Belpedio said. “From what I understand 35,000 volts of electricity went right through him,” he said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled the death accidental and caused by electrocution after an autopsy Saturday. The second employee, James Bowdry, 41, of Maywood, was treated for minor burns. ComEd is looking into the incident. “Exactly what happened up there is still under investigation,” Lindberg said. Meanwhile, family and friends of Mijares, of the 200 block of North Friars Court, cannot fathom what happened. “I know my husband would not make a mistake,” said wife Fran. “He was the head of a safety committee at ComEd and knew what he was doing.” The couple had been married for 15 years and had four children ranging in ages from 9 to 14, she said. Jorge Mijares coached his children and their sports teams with the Addison Rec Club and Pop Warner football for about eight years. “He was the best father and a family man,” his wife said. “He was the gentlest, kindest man. Words can’t express how we are going to miss him.” Chuck Fossen, who has coached and vacationed alongside Mijares for years, said his friend was great with children. “I have never heard anyone say a bad word about him,” Fossen said. “He was big, jovial and always cracking jokes.” ComEd is providing counseling services to employees who worked with Mijares and said accidents like Friday’s are rare, Lindberg said. “This is a tragedy in the ComEd family,” he said. “Our sympathy and prayers go out to his family.” A wake for Mijares will be held from 3 to 9 p.m. Monday at Humes Funeral Home, 320 W. Lake St. in Addison, his wife said. Services begin at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church at 1213 Army Trail Blvd. in Addison. Burial will be at Eden Memorial Park in Schiller Park.

UPDATE, Meadows companies indicted for employees’ electrocutions
BY BARBARA BELL
Federal charges have been filed against two Rolling Meadows firms, alleging the companies’ lack of training led to the deaths of two employees by electrocution. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald announced Dec. 11 that Rolling Meadows-based L.E. Myers Co. and its parent firm, MYR Group Inc., had been indicted on charges of deliberately disobeying federal workplace safety regulations. Myers provides construction services for electric utilities. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of MYR. Blake Lane, 20, of Sullivan, Ill., was killed Dec. 28, 1999, while doing maintenance work on a Commonwealth Edison high-voltage transmission tower in Mount Prospect, according to federal prosecutors. Lane touched an energized wire while inspecting a steel tower and was electrocuted. Wade Cumpston, 43, of Ashland, Ky., was electrocuted March 25, 2000, in Plainfield after he touched an energized grounding cable while working from an uninsulated bucket. Myers had a contract with ComEd at the time of the employees’ deaths. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, the charges against Myers and MYR are the first time in the nation that the electrocution of two men in high-voltage transmission towers resulted in criminal prosecution. In a prepared statement, William Skibitsky, president of Myers, denied that the company deliberately violated federal safety laws. “We deeply regret these tragic incidents,” he said. “We understand OSHA’s (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) role in helping to maintain a safe work environment, and we support its efforts. We cooperated fully with its investigations. However, we believe that the court will find the facts of the case do not support OSHA’s position.” Myers and MYR each are charged with two counts of violating OSHA safety regulations. The charges are misdemeanors. If convicted, Myers and MYR each could be sentenced to a maximum of five years probation and a maximum fine of $1 million. Both companies will be arraigned later in U.S. District Court at which time they’ll be asked to enter a plea to the charges.

Man dies from electrocution
Curtis DeBruin worked at Orv’s construction site
By John Lee
KAUKAUNA — A 28-year-old man died Wednesday when he was apparently electrocuted while working on a construction project. Curtis J. DeBruin of Kimberly, an employee of Enterprise Electric, did not have a pulse and was not breathing when he was found near an electrical panel at Five Star Frozen Foods Inc., 1601 Hyland Ave., at 1:15 p.m. Outagamie County Coroner Ruth Wulgaert said he was apparently working on the electrical panel in a part of the plant that is being expanded. She said there were no witnesses. DeBruin was found by another worker. Assistant Kaukauna Police Chief John Manion said co-workers — and later police officers — started cardiopulmonary resuscitation until paramedics from the Kaukauna Fire Department arrived. DeBruin was transported to Appleton Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead shortly after 2 p.m. Wulgaert said an autopsy will be performed today while police, company and insurance officials continue their investigation. Five Star is the maker of Orv’s Pizza. The owners bought the business over six years ago. Company President Jim Niemuth said the expansion will add about 35,000 square feet, mainly for warehouse space. The company makes frozen pizzas and employs about 70.

UPDATE, OSHA: Electrical Hazards Factor in Two Accidents
December 17, 2002
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co., for failing to protect workers from serious electrical hazards at a dredging and beach replenishment project south of Vilano Beach, Fla. The citations carry proposed penalties totaling $43,000. OSHA began an inspection of the worksite July 2, after notification from St. Johns County Sheriff Department officials that two company employees had received severe electrical shocks at the site where sand was being pumped from the ocean bottom up to the eroded beach. The first worker, using wet gloves during a welding operation, was injured June 17; the second worker was injured July 1 and sustained deep electrical burns to his right arm. Both employees were hospitalized as a result of their injuries. “Using electrical equipment without grounding protection is often fatal,” says James. D. Borders, OSHA’s Jacksonville area director. “These workers are fortunate to be alive. The long, painful months of recovery they will have to endure could have been avoided if the employer had taken the proper precautions to protect them.” OSHA issued ten serious citations to the Oak Brook, Ill-based firm for failure to provide employees with proper personal protective equipment while working with energized welding cables and electrode holders; failing to properly ground temporary electrical wiring and allowing employees to operate hand-held electrical tools with missing grounding prongs. The agency also cited the company’s failure to repair or replace damaged portable ladders and guardrails around an elevated work area. A serious citation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result and the employer knew or should have known of the hazard. The company has 15 working days to contest the OSHA citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. 

26-year-old welder electrocuted
EUGENIA OKPARA, Owerri
THE Orji Mechanic Village of Owerri North Council area in Imo State was at the weekend thrown into confusion as a 26-year-old welder, Festus Ibe, was electrocuted in a grotesque circumstance. A witness account had it that the late welder was working on a Volkswagen Golf car when the ugly incident happened. A friend of the late Festus Ibe, fondly called “DD”, who pleaded anonymity, revealed that the late welder was welding something under the car “and unknown to all of us, a live wire fell on the metal board on which he was lying.” The witness told the DAILY TIMES that their attention was drawn to the spot when they realised that he was no longer working. Explaining, “one of the people around bent down and discovered that all was not well with Ibe and raised alarm which attracted other colleagues to the scene”. Continuing, he said that they had no premonition of the impending doom adding that “we all came to work as usual and prayed for a peaceful, fruitful outing but unfortunately we had a tragedy”. “Discovering that he was motionless under the car after calling him and there was no any response, we switched off his welding machine, brought him out and rushed him to a nearby private hospital where he was certified dead by a medical doctor”, he said. He said the staff of the hospital did all they could to resuscitate Ibe but did not succeed. The late Festus Ibe was a native of Umuofor Amaimo in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State and had earned his living at the Orji Mechanic Village as a welder before the incident. It would be recalled that the same mechanic village lost one Kennett Nwachukwu in August through electrocution, thereby making the death of Festus Ibe the second artisan to have been electrocuted this year. The irony of the situation is that the two victims of electrocution were from Ikeduru Council Area as late Nwachukwu hailed from Ikembara. Meanwhile, the remains of the late Ibe have been deposited in the morgue of an unknown private hospital. 

Two die of electric shock in Dar
In the second incident, God Maimu (24), died and his two colleagues were seriously injured in an electric fault after their drilling machine accidentally touched a live electric wire. Explaining the incident on Sunday, the RPC said that the drilling machine had accidentally touched a live wire which lay on the ground at Hindi Street No.12 in Ilala. Those who were injured in the accident are Ahmed Amir, (20), and Abass Ngaza, (25), both of whom are employees of GO Tanzania Drilling Company, said Tibaigana. The two have also been admitted to Muhimbili and their conditions are improving, according to the RPC. In another incident, Steven Njemeni, (35), died on Saturday in a car accident at Manzese Darajani in Dar es Salaam. According to the RPC, the incident, which took place at around 9.a.m on Saturday, involved a car with registration number TZE 3404. The car driver, Agapiti Kabezo, (40), has been arrested for further investigation in connection with the accident.

UPDATE, Electrical contracting firms charged in worker deaths
U.S. attorney: First federal indictment regarding tower safety
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) –Two large electrical contracting companies were charged with federal misdemeanors in the deaths of two employees who were killed while working on steel towers supporting high-voltage power lines. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said it appeared to be the first time an indictment has been brought against companies concerning violation of safety rules applying to work atop such towers. “It is our intention that today’s charges will remind employers of the extraordinary responsibility our nation places on them to insure the safety of their workers,” Fitzgerald said Wednesday. MYR Group Inc., based in Delaware, and its subsidiary L.E. Myers Co. were charged with willfully violating federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration regulations, offenses that could result in fines totaling $2 million. The companies said they would defend themselves in court. “We deeply regret these tragic accidents,” L.E. Myers President William Skibitsky said. However, he said, the company objected to any implication that the deaths were caused by willful acts. Both men were electrocuted, one in December 1999 and the other in March 2000, and had been under contract with L.E. Myers. According to OSHA, 37 workers were killed doing work for L.E. Myers between 1972 and September 2000. OSHA had proposed a $423,500 fine, but that was on hold pending the outcome of criminal charges, federal officials said. Myers employs more than 1,000 workers nationwide.

Workman electrocuted
By Jerry Pratley
A 33-YEAR-OLD man died and another was seriously injured after a crane installing a light pole hit 132,000-volt powerlines yesterday. The incident was at a new housing development near Hepburn Avenue and Giralt Road in Marangaroo. The name of the man who died has not been released. The injured man was taken by ambulance to hospital. Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union State secretary Kevin Reynolds claimed workers at the site said they believed the contractor was told the lines were not live. “There is no proof of that but that is what was being said by people on site,” Mr Reynolds said. “It was around Christmas three years ago that we had exactly the same type of fatality happen when a crane hit powerlines. When is something going to be done?” Both firms involved in the work declined to comment. The firms were not working for Western Power, spokesman Peter Winner said. Power sometimes was switched off to wires when construction work was being done nearby but Western Power had not had any application in relation to the Marangaroo site. “Normally, when there is this type of work going on in the vicinity of high voltage power lines, Western Power is advised,” he said. “But there is no record of Western Power being advised. “If we are advised that work is going on, we can either turn off the line or put some protective sleeves over the line so that if something like this occurs, it is the protection rather than the wires that are hit. “We turn off wires when we can accommodate it but today it would have been difficult because the demand for electricity is so high that we needed that line.” The incident will be investigated by WorkSafe, the Office of Energy Safety and police. A review of WA Occupational Health and Safety laws by former Australian industrial relations commissioner Bob Laing that was tabled in Parliament two weeks ago recommended that negligent senior officers or company directors be held personally liable for serious injury or death on work sites. Mr Laing recommended that significantly bigger penalties, including jail terms. UnionsWA also has called for stiffer penalties, including jail.

Electrical mishap disrupts CCH
By:Stephen Mercer December 11, 2002
A contractor suffered mild burns, and many people at Coulee Community Hospital went without heat for hours following an electrical accident Thursday. Coulee Community Hospital Administrator Mike Wiltermood said contractors were working on an electrical panel when an electric arc struck one of the workers and caused substantial burns. “I was standing in the room when it happened,” said CCH maintenance worker Ryan Fish. “Something did arc, but we’re not sure what.” The arc knocked out the power in the hospital and filled the north end of the building with smoke, Wiltertmood said. A backup generator started about 30 seconds later to provide power in the emergency room and the hospital. The electrician, from Omak-based Don Kruse Electric, was taken to the emergency room and released later that night, he said. Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Dept. Captain Dean McPherson said they received the fire call at about 3:30 p.m. and power was restored by 7 p.m. “The main concern was patients and hospital staff,” he said. “(We offered) assistance in anything we could in patient care.” Fish said he told people to put out fans to take the smoke out of the building. The hospital went into “lockdown” mode for about an hour and CCH staff monitored closely who went in and out for the next several hours. The Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Dept and the Bureau of Reclamation Plant Protection personnel stayed until 7 p.m. “The hospital really appreciates the tremendous support that Grand Coulee and Bureau of Reclama-tion’s services provided,” Wilter-mood said. The hospital was mainly concerned with the lack of heat, especially in the nursing home, he said. The nursing home’s roof-mounted heaters, which provide much of the heat in the home, were knocked out along with the power. Wiltermood said the residents were inconvenienced by the lack of heat because they could not go into their rooms, where it would be too cold. He said the hospital’s heat did not come back on until 8:30 p.m. The lack of power also meant that the hospital staff could not cook food, so sandwiches had to be brought in. A second, more powerful arc, left the panel when the fire fighters examined it, but they were prepared for the arc and were unharmed, McPherson said. He said Grant County Emergency Services stood by in Ephrata with meals and heat generators in case the power could not be turned on in time and CCH needed emergency supplies. The upgrade to CCH’s wiring was being done in preparation for a new X-ray machine, Wiltermood said. Fish said the upgrade is still on schedule, despite the accident. The hospital hopes to have the upgrade done by January.

Camden Man Dies In Electrocution Accident 
Police say Jeff Fernandez was pronounced dead at Cooper Hospital following the accident just after noon Monday. The 39-year-old was working with two other men, installing flashing around the windows of a building on North Fourth Street. The trio were trying to move the ladder, which was extended 30 feet, when they lost control of it. The ladder fell backward away from the building and came in contact with an electrical line. Police say Fernandez was wearing sneakers but was standing on a metal grate. The other men were wearing work boots, but were not in contact with the grate. They were examined at the hospital, then released.

GA Power Worker Shocked, Critical
A shocked and badly burned Georgia Power worker is taken from an ambulance to a nearby helicopter. A badly injured Georgia Power worker is airlifted to a hospital. A Georgia Power worker is listed in critical condition after being shocked while on duty in Alpharetta, Ga. Alpharetta police said the employee, whose name has not been made known, suffered serious burns. A helicopter was used to airlift him to Grady Memorial Hospital. It’s not yet known what caused the accident, which happened Tuesday morning near Windward Parkway and Windward concourse.

OHS in death probe
Sunday December 08, 2002
Occupational Health and Safety officials are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a 23-year-old labourer with the Pacific Fishing Company in Levuka. The man was reportedly electrocuted. The accident occurred on Thursday at about 10.30am while the deceased was carrying out some repair work and painting at the PAFCO building. The deceased was painting the roof, he (deceased) came down to the ground to switch off a welding plant which was still on. When lifting the welding plant, he was accidentally electrocuted,” acting police public relations officer, Corporal Erami Raibe said. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Levuka Hospital. The deceased was not wearing any safety gears while he was working. It is advisable that safety precautions are observed to avoid such incidents,” he said. The post mortem (examination) on the deceased is yet to be carried out.

UPDATE, Electrician burned in accident rests at home
An electrician who suffered electrical burns while working on a building expansion at The Idaho Statesman is recovering at home. Calvin Miller, who works for Power Plus Co. in Boise, received second-degree burns from the accident on Oct. 24. He was helping move inactive cables at the Statesman for a new elevator when a cable hit a live electrical source and grounded, causing a flash of electricity that burned him. He was taken to the Intermountain Burn Trauma Center in Salt Lake City for treatment. Miller was released from the burn unit in mid-November and is now resting at home, according to a representative of Power Plus. He is expected to return to work in January, the spokesman said

Overhead wires electrocute worker
YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — A man laying sewer pipe in a new home development was electrocuted when a backhoe, operated by his father, hit a powerline overhead, the Yakima County sheriff’s office said. William Anderson, 26, was pronounced dead Monday at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital. Chuck Anderson, 63, the owner of Central Concrete and Utilities, was operating the backhoe while his son stabilized a section of pipe that was tethered by cable to the backhoe bucket, the sheriff’s office said. The boom on the backhoe hit a powerline above it and the electrical current was transmitted to the younger Anderson. The state Department of Labor and Industries is investigating.

UPDATE, GRDA fire under investigation, Workers still hospitalized
Kathy Parker Pryor Daily Times
Two electricians who were burned in a fire at Grand River Dam Authority’s coal fire plant Nov. 15 are on the long road to recovery. Joseph Lewis, Pryor, and Robert Ladd, Muskogee, were burned in a flash fire. The fire was caused by an arc created by a short when a sheet metal cover removed during repairs came into contact with the conductors. The electricity came from a 480 volt breaker. Both men were burned on their faces, arms and chests. Each have received skin grafts and remain in the Alexander Burn Center in Hillcrest Hospital, Tulsa. the electricians are long-time GRDA employees. “It’s not uncommon for these men to be working with thousands of volts, or even 10s of thousands of volts,” said Charles Barney, the GRDA Coal Fire plant manager. See the Thursday, Nov. 21st, 2002 edition of The Daily Times for a full story.

UPDATE, OSHA to investigate Gardner Drive accident
Federal agency to look at electrical contractor’s safety precautions
PORT CHARLOTTE — The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration will be investigating the Pike Electric accident Tuesday on Gardner Drive. “We just found out this morning,” Les Grove said Thursday. Grove is the area director in OSHA’s Tampa office. A chain-reaction series of events erupted when two Florida Power & Light subcontractors from Pike Electric were shocked Tuesday while working on a power line along Gardner Drive in Port Charlotte After the two men were injured, a large power outage followed, which contributed to five minor vehicle wrecks in the Port Charlotte area. A downed power line grazed a day-care center on Gardner Drive, scorched by fire, and Gardner Drive residents Kay and Ken Kuriger’s home exploded. The two Pike Electric employees were airlifted to the Fort Myers hospital. One worker suffered burns to his head, face and neck. One of the employees, Ricky Messner, was taken to a burn unit in Tampa. Pike Electric’s Human Resources vice president Zack Blackman said Thursday Messner is expected to be released from the Tampa hospital in the next two days. Blackman said his company has sent its own investigators from its North Carolina home office to Port Charlotte. “I don’t want to speculate on what I think happened,” Blackman said. “What happened has yet to be determined.” FP&L is also investigating the incident. “We put a great deal of emphasis on safety for our workers, contractors and customers,” FP&L spokeswoman Kathy Scott said Thursday. Officials with the State Fire Marshal’s Office will not be investigating the accident since the cause is known and arson is not suspected. An OSHA investigation can take a month to six months to complete. The investigators look for any violations of federal safety standards. According OSHA’s Internet site, the federal agency cited Pike Electric for 10 serious safety violations in March 2001 and proposed $61,000 in penalties after a worker was electrocuted in Loganville, Ga. The employee, working in an elevated lineman’s bucket, was electrocuted on Sept. 11, 2000, when he came in contact with a 14,400-volt power line. Electrical accidents and fatal electrocutions in the workplace aren’t unusual. According to “Workers Death by Electrocution,” a 1998 OSHA investigative report, 5,348 workers were fatally electrocuted on their jobs from 1980 to 1992. An average of 411 workers died annually, and it was the fifth leading cause of death in the workplace. The same OSHA report included a study of 224 electrocutions and found five common factors: * Safety work procedures were not implemented or followed. * Workers did not wear personal protective equipment or were not provided safety equipment. * “Lockout/tagout” procedures to control the electrical energy were not implemented or followed. * Failure to follow OSHA and other safety regulations. * Worker and supervisor training in electrical safety was inadequate.

UPDATE, Newnan Yamaha plant fined over worker’s death
NEWNAN – A Yamaha Manufacturing plant received an $82,000 fine Wednesday for electrical hazards that led to a worker’s death. Forty-six-year-old Eugene Pope died June first from an accident while he was doing electrical work at the plant. He suffered a fatal heart attack after he was struck with 480 volts of electricity. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced the fine, saying that Pope was working on electrical equipment and power lines that had not been properly labeled and disconnected before work began. The fine included $63,000 for failing to label the equipment and an additional $25,000 for other safety failures, including not giving workers proper tools. Yamaha has 15 days to appeal the citation.

Accident spawns chain reaction
Officials tackle five wrecks, two blazes and gas leak
PORT CHARLOTTE — A freak accident that injured two electrical workers Tuesday afternoon caused a bizarre domino effect of incidents — a large power outage, five wrecks, a day care center fire, a gas leak, a house fire and an evacuation of several homes along Gardner Drive. Children were safely evacuated from the day care center, but the two male workers were flown to Lee Memorial Hospital. Remarkably, there were no other serious injuries caused by the accident’s chain reaction. “It’s really true that for every action there’s a reaction,” said Charlotte County Fire & EMS spokeswoman Dee Hawkins. “I don’t think anything like this has happened in a long time.” The events began around 3:20 p.m. Tuesday when two Florida Power & Light subcontractors from Pike Electric were shocked while working on a power line on Gardner Drive off U.S. 41. “Somehow, one of the workers made contact with the line … he then made contact with the other worker,” Hawkins said. Both were airlifted to the Fort Myers hospital. One worker suffered burns to his head, face and neck. The other was unconscious. At the hospital, both men were conscious and able to speak with relatives, said Charlotte County Sheriff’s Cpl. Kenn Watson. According to WINK-TV, one of the men was transported to a burn unit in Tampa. A nursing supervisor at Lee Memorial said man named Ricky Messner was airlifted to the Fort Myers facility and later taken to a burn unit in Tampa. She could not say whether the man was involved in the Port Charlotte accident. This accident caused a large power outage in the Port Charlotte and Charlotte Harbor areas, affecting 1,857 customers, knocking out six traffic lights and contributing to five wrecks with two minor injuries, said Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Allen Williams. Two Sheriff’s deputies were involved in the wrecks, though neither suffered severe injuries. After the two electrical workers were hurt, the snapped power line began flopping around on Gardner Drive, hitting a day care center. The day care center, Karen’s Kiddie Korrall, caught fire around 4 p.m. and all 24 kids were evacuated safely, Hawkins said. “The line just exploded — all I could see was that line flopping,” said witness Tammy Hight, who works nearby at Best Coast Insurance. “We helped get kids out (of the day care center). I’m very surprised we weren’t hurt. We’re just trying to regain our senses.” Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze that burned portions of the roof and exterior of the day care center, located at 4021 Gardner Drive. “It’s not a total loss,” said Emergency Management Director Wayne Sallade. “There is no damage to the interior.” After battling the day care center fire, officials were investigating the odor of gas coming from a nearby residence on the south end of Gardner. Things appeared to be winding down shortly before 4:45 p.m., and Fire Chief Dennis DiDio was getting ready to go home when a loud boom signaled another strange event. Firefighters running to investigate found black smoke and flames pouring from the residence where the gas odor had earlier been detected. A power line came across the house and caused the gas line to “pop or crack,” Hawkins said. The house filled with gas, found an ignition source and exploded into flames. No one was inside the home at the time and no emergency workers were injured during the explosion or fire, Hawkins said. “They can’t live in it,” Hawkins said of the 4054 Gardner Drive residence. “It’s gone. The inside is trashed.” Residents along Gardner Drive were evacuated and several remained out of their homes for hours as officials continued to search for the gas leak. Around 8:15 p.m., the gas leak was contained and residents began returning to their residences. “It was pretty overwhelming,” Hawkins said. “The crews did a really good job handling it, between the Sheriff’s Office, Fire & EMS and the power company. “It’s amazing how one event can chain react into so many other events,” Hawkins added. Or, as one witness called it: “Murphy’s Law.”

Worker injured on job site
Palm Beach Daily News
Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2002 — A construction worker was injured Tuesday when he came in contact with an electrical wire on a job at 238 Plantation Road, Palm Beach Police and Fire-Rescue said. The worker, West Palm Beach resident Rafael Ferreira, 27, was standing on a platform above a chimney when a section of steel building wire he was moving came in contact with the power line, said Fire-Rescue Lt. Pete Codispoti. He was taken by ambulance to St. Mary’s Medical Center, said Palm Beach Police spokeswoman Janet Kinsella. There was initial concern about the need to turn off electricity in the vicinity but Florida Power & Light deemed a shutdown unnecessary, Kinsella said. Ferreira suffered an electrical exit wound between two of the toes on his left foot, Codispoti said. He was listed in fair condition Tuesday evening.

Father-son painting duo killed in electrical accident
The Associated Press
A father and son working as paint contractors died Tuesday in an apparent electrocution accident at the Dairy Fresh facility, police said. Charles Myers, 63, and Eric Myers, 37, were pronounced dead at 2:30 p.m., about an hour after the accident occurred, said Bill Land of the Houston County Sheriff’s Department. Land said investigators believe Eric Myers was painting a storage silo when the hydraulic lift he was standing in made contact with a 12-kilowatt power line, knocking him to the ground. Charles Myers was electrocuted when he ran to his son’s aid. It was unclear whether he was electrocuted by touching his son or the lift. Dothan Fire Department Capt. Ed Roberts said the jolt from the power line also ignited a fire in the lift’s gasoline motor, badly burning both bodies. But Deputy Coroner Jack Persch said the men were dead before the fire. “I think they were dead immediately,” Persch told The Dothan Eagle. “There’s 12,000 volts going through that power line.” Linda Brannon of Alabama Power said electricity for almost 200 customers was shut off so that firefighters could put out the fire. Investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration went to the scene Tuesday, but Land said the investigation was turned over to the sheriff’s department because the Myers were contractors, not employees of Dairy Fresh.

Barge snags, damages electric cables with anchor
November 19, 2002 Associated Press
NORTHPORT, N.Y. — Divers were working Tuesday to assess the damage caused to four underwater electric cables when a drifting barge dragged its anchor across them. The 138,000-volt power lines that transport electricity from Norwalk, Conn., to Northport under Long Island Sound were leaking 20 liters of dodecylbenzene per hour after they were hit Saturday, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection said. The chemical is an insulating fluid similar to mineral oil and is not expected to create health or safety hazards, environmental officials said. It was unclear exactly how much of the chemical leaked. The cables were immediately shut off after the DEP learned of the leak, environmental officials said. Divers were able to identify damage to three of the cables Tuesday, and they were scheduled to try and reach the fourth Wednesday, said Bert Cunningham, vice president of communications for the Long Island Power Authority. Dive teams will be working through the day and night, and a repair schedule is expected to be set by Thursday or Friday, Cunningham said. “The first step is try to ascertain the extent of the damage, and based on that come up with some type of repair strategy,” he said. Officials said the barge’s anchor hit the cables about 1.5 miles from Northport off Long Island. A weekend nor’easter forced the privately owned dredging barge into a westerly drift at about 3:45 p.m., environmental officials, Berlin, Conn.-based Northeast Utilities and the Long Island Power Authority told the Connecticut Post. The four lines, co-owned by Connecticut Light & Power and the LIPA, are part of a group of seven that are separated and spread out over about 2,100 feet along the floor of the sound just over a mile beyond Northport, officials said. Mitchell S. Gross, manager of transmission communications for Northeast Utilities, CL&P’s parent company, said company workers noticed the damage Saturday night when the line tripped and went out of service. Richard Kessel, chairman of the LIPA, said the accident increases pressure to begin using a new 24-mile underwater cable between New Haven and the former Shoreham power plant on Long Island. The Long Island Power Authority has said it needs the 330-megawatt cable to alleviate possible power shortages on the island. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said the accident was another piece of evidence in the argument against the new cross-sound cable. “This unfortunate accident demonstrates how fragile Long Island Sound’s ecological systems are, and that ill-conceived utility projects greatly threaten the sea bed,” Blumenthal said.

Indonesia electro fisher stuns himself, drowns
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
By Associated Press
JAKARTA, Indonesia — An Indonesian man using a homemade stunning device to catch fish electrocuted himself and drowned, hospital officials and reports said Tuesday. Syahrul, 42, had attached electric cables to a diesel engine and was trailing them in the Mentaya River in Kalimantan on Sunday, the state news agency Antara reported. Syahrul, who goes by a single name, reportedly dipped his foot into the river and received an electric shock that jolted him into the water, the report said. Villagers later found his body. Hospital officials in the town of Sampit, where the accident took place, confirmed that Syahrul’s body had been taken to a hospital but were unable to state the cause of his death. Indonesian fishers often resort to unconventional fishing methods — including electrocution, explosives, and poisons such as cyanide — to increase their haul. All three practices are widely blamed for depleting fish stocks and damaging the environment.

Couple electrocuted by rat trap in northern Vietnam
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) – A farming couple in northern Vietnam were electrocuted by an electric trap they constructed to protect their rice seedlings from rats, local police said Monday. Pham Ngoc Thach died instantly when he stepped on the bare electric wires Thursday, and his wife was electrocuted when she tried to pull him away, a police officer in Binh Giang district of Hai Duong province said. Thach’s mother found the bodies Friday morning, said the officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The couple had placed live electric wires around the field to stop rats from eating the seedlings, she said. The province is about 65 kilometers (40 miles) east of Hanoi. Several deaths from homemade electric rat traps are reported in Vietnam each year. Vietnamese farmers kill millions of rats every year. The rodent population has become a major problem since the mid 1980s, when their numbers boomed as a result of an expansion of crops and a shrinking population of predators such as cats and snakes, which are sold to restaurants in China. – AP

2 workers burned in power plant fire
2002-11-15
CHOUTEAU (AP) — A flash fire at an eastern Oklahoma power plant burned two employees on Friday, officials said. The injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, said Charles Barney, assistant general manager of the Grand River Dam Authority’s coal-fire generation plant. Both men were burned on their hands and one of the victims had burns on his face, Barney said. He said no one was blinded in the accident. Both men were taken to Tulsa’s Hillcrest Medical Center. A cause has not been determined. “We’re investigating so it won’t happen again,” Barney said. “This is an abnormal event.” He said the fire happened at about 11:30 a.m. as the workers, both electricians, were doing routine maintenance on a piece of equipment. Barney said the blaze lasted about a quarter-second. He said the fire happened on auxiliary equipment so there were no interruptions at the plant which provides power to about a half-million people. Barney said utility officials are still trying to contact the employees’ relatives, so their identities were not immediately released. The plant employs 210 workers. 

Three firefighters injured battling overnight house fire
By James Irby ABC13 Eyewitness News
(11/15/02) — Three Houston firefighters are injured in a suspicious house fire. The fire broke out in a vacant house in southeast Houston on Corinth Street near Holmes around 2am. When fire crews arrived at the scene, they found the house fully engulfed. Arson investigators say the fire is suspicious because the home is vacant and the fire started near the front porch. The Houston fire department attacked the fire from all sides of the house. Three firefighters climbed up a ladder at the back of the home to get to some heavy flames coming from the attic. As crews were hitting the blaze with water from the front of the home, the chief says that’s when the men sustained some kind of electrical shock near the back of the house. “We had two firefighters sustain electrical shock. Two of the firefighters are stable right now, but went in for observation. The third firefighter had a fast heart rate,” said Charles Julian with the Houston Fire Department. That final firefighter is in stable condition and is still having some tests run. The other two firefighters are expected to be released from Memorial Hermann Hosptial Friday morning. 

Girard worker hurt in flash fire
By JOE NOGA
A Girard city worker was injured Thursday while working on equipment at an electrical substation in Girard. Ken Bradshaw, power plant supervisor for more than 10 years, was working at a substation near Cherokee and Antelope Streets in Girard when he was injured by a flash fire. Bradshaw was taken to Via Christi Regional Medical Center’s Burn Unit by MedFlight where he is listed in fair condition. A report of fair condition usually means that the patient’s vital signs are stable and within the normal limits. It also means the patient is conscious but may be uncomfortable and that indicators are favorable. According to Mike West, Girard city manager, around 8:37 a.m. on Thursday, Bradshaw was working at a substation near the intersection of Cherokee and Antelope Streets in Girard while grounding an OCR to perform maintenance on the metering. “Basically, an OCR is a recloser,” said West. “It’s not a transformer but it is something that comes off the transformer.” West said that in the process of grounding the equipment there was a fire flash on the OCR, injuring Bradshaw. “It is usually an arc between that OCR and the ground-grid,” West said. Bradshaw was the only person injured at the scene. According to West, emergency crews responded after employees called 911. “One of the persons who was with him ran in and relayed the message to call 911 for medical assistance,” West said. “The Girard Fire Department responded first and EMS followed and then he was taken to Girard Hospital.” Bradshaw left Girard a short time later and was taken by MedFlight to Via Christi Regional Medical Center. Staff at the burn center said Thursday that Bradshaws burns were not severe and West said that he was taken there as a precautionary measure. No one else was injured in the incident.

UPDATE, Payout in electrocution case
By KYLIE STOCKDALE
A BABY boy who was born 24 days after his father died in a workplace accident on a poultry farm near El Arish will receive $20,000 from the property owners. Supreme Court judge Justice Kerry Cullinane ruled in Townsville this week that the money be paid to the Public Trustees and kept in an account for Samuel Frank Scarpignato, now three, until he turned 18. Legal documents filed to the Supreme Court show Samuel’s father, Antonino Carmelo Angelo Scarpignato, 36, died from an electrical shock on March 13, 1999, after he came in contact with a live electrical wire on a chicken feeding machine at a property owned by Nathan James Mood. Mr Scarpignato was a self-employed excavator operator at the time and ran his business in partnership with his wife, Angelique. After an investigation into Mr Scarpignato’s death it was found the incident was caused by negligence from Mr Mood or James Edward Mood. Their failure to maintain electrical equipment in safe condition on the property and provide a safe workplace breached the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995. Parties involved in the incident agreed Mrs Scarpignato and her son relied on Mr Scarpignato for income. A separate financial settlement for Mrs Scarpignato was previously reached between her and the property owners. The involved parties similarly settled on $20,000, being the amount to be paid to Samuel.

UPDATE, Long wait for answers in job death, After 16 months, inquest to probe workplace fatality 
Frances Barrick Torstar News Service 
KITCHENER — Sixteen months after Gerald Leader was electrocuted at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant in Cambridge, Lynn Leader still doesn’t know how her former husband died. “I have never, ever heard why he died” from the Ontario Ministry of Labour, which investigated Leader’s July 13, 2001, death, his ex-wife said. The 50-year-old Cambridge electrician was working on the plant’s welding equipment when he was electrocuted. Leader said ministry officials never contacted her with results of their investigation, and now she has to spend $100 for a copy of their report — which may not be complete if the 11 people interviewed by the ministry don’t give permission for Leader to have a copy of their statements. She requested the report in September and still hasn’t received it. “I’m angry and frustrated,” she said. “The way they (ministry officials) have treated me and my children, it’s just terrible,” she said. “It’s just very insensitive. My kids have lost their father and they still don’t know why,” said Leader, who has a 15-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter. Ministry spokesperson Belinda Sutton said freedom of information legislation prevents her from “divulging any information” about this case. She did say the ministry followed its general procedure of contacting next-of-kin following the completion of an investigation and/or a decision not to lay charges. Leader said she welcomes the news that an inquest into her former husband’s death will begin Dec. 9 in Kitchener. Under the Coroner’s Act, an inquest is mandatory when a worker dies as a result of a workplace accident. 

Utility worker electrocuted
SIGNONSANDIEGO NEWS SERVICES November 5, 2002
SAN DIEGO – A utility worker died of an apparent electrical shock Tuesday while on a maintenance job about 80 feet up a Kearny Mesa transmission tower, authorities said. About 4 p.m., fellow crew members found the man hanging upside-down, suspended by his safety belt, near the top of the power-line support structure off the 6600 block of Convoy Court, according to San Diego police. They managed to lower the man to the ground, aided by arriving firefighters on ladder trucks, a dispatcher said. In about 40 minutes he was on the way to an air ambulance helicopter waiting in a nearby baseball field. Medics worked to revive him at the scene, but the man was pronounced dead a short time later at a hospital, SDPD Sgt. Tom Carmody said. Initial reports indicated the electrical lines the worker was servicing were carrying 160,000 volts at the time of the accident, the dispatcher said.

UPDATE, Explosion victim dies 
By Debra Kahn Staff writer 
Kurt Tassche, a 41-year-old electrical maintenance worker at the university, died this morning at Washington Hospital Center of injuries sustained in the explosion in the Physics Building on Sunday. A 24-year employee of the university, Tassche lived in College Park with his girlfriend of one year, who described him as “an unassuming redhead” who was a “fabulous electrician.” Tassche was working on an electrical panel on the first floor of the building with four others when the explosion occurred, but was the only worker injured. The resulting fire blocked his exit for more than 10 minutes until he was rescued by firefighters and helicoptered to the hospital. He remained unconscious for six days in intensive care until his death. In addition to severe lung damage, exacerbated by the smoke’s increased toxicity from the burning insulation, he suffered minor burns and scrapes. Also called “a go-in-and-get-the-job-done guy,” Tassche was known for his dedication to his job. “He’s that kind of guy where they’d be like ‘Of course he’s with us,’ ” said Tassche’s girlfriend, Kristen Kamp. The direct cause of the explosion is not yet known; Tassche and the others were working on the panel because it had malfunctioned Oct. 26 after having been upgraded the day before in an attempt to meet the power requirements of the 53-year-old Physics Building. The accident cut off all electricity to the building, disrupting some experiments. The building is still without a permanent source of electricity in some locations, but classes will resume normal schedules Monday. University President C.D. Mote Jr. issued a statement on the university’s website Saturday. “Kurt was a long-time, dedicated and skilled employee,” Mote said. “He will be missed.” Tassche is survived by his mother, who lives in Dunkirk, Md., his father, of Gaithersburg and a sister, who lives in Virginia. 

BellSouth Worker Electrocuted
Manav Tanneeru 10/30/2002 
A BellSouth worker was reportedly electrocuted Wednesday afternoon, suffering burns on over 30 percent of his body. The electrical contractor was hired to do some work at the BellSouth switching station on 60 Oak Street in Roswell, Ga. He reportedly came into contact with a 480 volt electrical panel. He suffered second and third-degree burns on his face and chest. He was LifeFlighted to the Grady Memorial Hospital Burn Center. 

Power line sends shock to worker, 2 hurt as boat mast hits high voltage 
PENOBSCOT – Two men were injured Thursday after the mast on a sailboat they were moving connected with a high-voltage power line just after noon. The two men, employed by Devereux Marine on Route 166, were taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. Bryan Smith of Bucksport, who is about 18 years old, appeared to have suffered the more severe injury, according to Hancock County Sheriff’s Deputy Ken Mitchell. Smith’s co-worker, William Stevenson, also of Bucksport, who Mitchell said was in his 30s, was not directly struck when the electrical current surged down the mast and sailboat. Mitchell did not think the injuries were life-threatening to either victim. “It certainly could have been a lot worse,” he said. A nursing supervisor at EMMC said late Thursday night that Smith was in fair condition, and Stevenson had been treated and released. Mitchell said Smith was on the ground operating a small custom-built crane at the Devereux boatyard and Stevenson was posted on top of the boat when the mast connected with the 34,500-volt power line. Stevenson had let go of the mast just before it landed on the wires, but Smith was not so fortunate, Mitchell said. He said the electricity surged down the boat and burned through the crane wires and into the controller that was being held by Smith. Smith fell to the ground, with the controller still in hand, Mitchell said. Stevenson jumped off the boat, injuring his foot, as he rushed to help his friend. The LifeFlight helicopter was called to the scene, but turned back without landing at the recommendation of ambulance crews at the scene, Mitchell said. Mitchell said he didn’t know why or how the sailboat mast was allowed to come into contact with the power lines. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration arrived at the scene later Thursday afternoon to investigate the workplace accident. A spokesman at the Bangor OSHA office declined to comment on the incident pending further investigation. Attempts to reach the owners of the marine company were unsuccessful. David Allen, spokesman for Central Maine Power Co., which services the Penobscot and Castine area, said the accident knocked out power to 1,600 customers for about two hours. Allen said the company was able to section off the area of the boatyard in order to restore power to all but 750 customers. Power service had been restored to all customers by late afternoon, Allen said. He said that while a typical residential power line carries between 4,000 and 12,000 volts of power, the lines running down Route 166 are high-voltage because they carry electricity for the entire peninsula. According to Mitchell, neighbors near the boatyard heard the accident and ran to the boatyard to help. They called police on cell phones. 

Utility worker injured by electrical jolt
By Rani Gupta, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer October 29, 2002
LAKE WORTH — A Lake Worth Utilities Department worker was hospitalized Monday morning after being shocked while working on a power line. William Harrington of Lake Worth was flown to Delray Medical Center after receiving an electric shock while he repaired a power line at the intersection of 12th Avenue South and Pine Street, Utilities Director Patrick Miller said. Officials are investigating the incident to see whether Harrington touched the line or the current jumped to Harrington, which sometimes happens on humid days. Miller said all of Harrington’s safety equipment was in place. The accident shut off power in parts of Lake Worth for about 15 minutes, Miller said. Harrington, who remained conscious while being treated by fire-rescue workers, is listed in critical condition. 

Electrician burned on job improves
The condition of an electrician who suffered severe electrical burns Thursday while working on a building expansion project at The Idaho Statesman has improved. Calvin Miller, who works for Power Plus Co. in Boise, was listed Monday in fair condition at the Intermountain Burn Trauma Center in Salt Lake City. Thursday, Miller was helping move inactive cables at The Statesman for a new elevator when a cable hit a live electrical source and grounded, causing a flash of electricity that burned him. 

Worker Is Critically Injured in U-Md. Fire, Physics Building Suffers $250,000 In Damage 
By Mary Otto, Washington Post Staff Writer 
An electrical fire on the University of Maryland campus yesterday left one employee critically injured and caused an estimated $250,000 in damage to the John S. Toll Physics Building, authorities said. The fire started shortly before 11 a.m. in an electrical panel in a utility room in the physics building as five electrical services workers were installing a line, Prince George’s County Fire and EMS spokesman Mark Brady said. Four of the workers managed to flee the building, but the fifth was trapped, Brady said. “Two university police officers made a valiant attempt to rescue him but were forced back by heat,” Brady said. The cause of the fire is under investigation. The officers were able to relay the man’s exact location to Prince George’s firefighters who arrived on the scene, Brady said. The worker, identified by a university official as Kurt Tassche, 44, was taken to the burn unit at Washington Hospital Center, where he remained in critical condition late yesterday. Three firefighters and a university police officer suffered from smoke inhalation, Brady said. They were transported to a hospital where they were treated and were expected to be released. The process of rescuing the worker and extinguishing the fire, which heavily damaged the first-floor electrical utility room, took about 15 minutes, Brady said. Crews remained on the scene throughout the day, monitoring and ventilating the building. Because the electricity in the entire structure was turned off, fire officials, accompanied by hazardous materials experts and university staff, walked through the lab to check on the safety of experiments that were in progress. “Some experiments, if allowed to overheat, could present a health concern,” Brady said. No such problems seemed apparent by midafternoon, said Fred Welsh, chief of College Park Fire Station 12. The scientific validity of some experiments probably was compromised as a result of the power outage, said Physics Department Chairman Jordan Goodman. “Some will lose months of work,” he said. But he added, “Someone was badly injured. The other things we’ll deal with. We feel for the person who was hurt and his family.” The building, still without power, will remain closed today, Goodman said. 

Investigators Believe Electrocution Causes Workers Death 
By Patrick McLendon Fox News At Nine Associate Producer 
Police are waiting for autopsy results on a man they believe was electrocuted on the job, in east El Paso. Emergency crews were called to Steris Isomedix services, to help 28 year old Willie Garcia. Instigators believe Garcia was working on a control panel when he shocked; he later died at Del Sol Medical Center. The police are investigating Grcia’s death, but do believe it was an industrial accident. 

Two Workers Injured In Construction Accident
Two construction workers suffered burns after one of them accidentally hit a power line with a metal object. Both workers were taken to UMC yesterday. The men were working on a house when the accident happened Friday afternoon. One of the men fell about 20 feet to the ground and suffered third-degree burns to his chest, face and arm. The other man also was burned and went into shock. Power was shut off in the area of West Charleston and Rancho for about a half-hour.