3 contractors injured when lift comes near power lines during a roofing job

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Zarheer_Jooma

New User
Location
Louisville, KY
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
Hello all - we teach this in our safety training classes. OSHA 1910.333 requires unqualified persons remain at least 10' from energized lines operating >600V. OSHA 1910.269 is written for qualified workers and permits closer approaches (as does 1926 Subpart K). In this accident, 6" was mentioned - so they were closer than ANY of the distances that OSHA has permitted since 2014! I know that this is old, but here is the link to the actual tables: https://e-hazard.com/osha-faqs-for-29-cfr-1910-269-and-29-cfr-part-1926-subpart-v/

I attended a lecture at the IEEE Electrical Safety Workshop (https://electricalsafetyworkshop.com/) around 2020 that presented BLS data showing that the largest number of electrical fatalities at high voltage are unqualified persons making contact with powerlines. We are trying to get the safety message out there, but it is so difficult to reach this target audience of residential contractors, tree trimmers, home DIYs....we are writing blogs, publishing articles, attending NEC and NFPA 70E meetings etc...still a long ways to go!
 

Hv&Lv

Senior Member
Location
-
Occupation
Engineer/Technician
Down here, it’s real easy to get the poco to sleeve the lines if you have to work close to them. Usually the contractor is in a hurry or lazy to not have them do it. Could have saved several injuries in this instance.
Cover up is only good to protect 269 trained employees.
It is not for someone untrained to work within the minimum approach distance
 

Hv&Lv

Senior Member
Location
-
Occupation
Engineer/Technician
Down here, it’s real easy to get the poco to sleeve the lines if you have to work close to them. Usually the contractor is in a hurry or lazy to not have them do it. Could have saved several injuries in this instance.
Cover up is only good to protect 269 trained employees.
It is not for someone to work within the minimum approach distance
 
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