Two electrical workers killed in fall.

[iwire]

Last spring two electrical workers were killed while working from a crane mounted work platform.

I did not know them but the accident stuck in my mind. At the time the pictures did not seem to show an obvious cause so I have kept checking OSHA to find out what happened.

Long story short, lack of training, lack of following procedures, lack of testing etc. Absolutely no mechanical failure at all.


Here is the OSHA Citation and Notification of Penalty. The details start on page 6.

https://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/MassBayElectricalCorp_967471_0917_14.pdf


News story from when it happened

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140414/NEWS/404140318


Recent news story

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...ne-accident/iOwn2ITNfXAhMZIs9IwbKO/story.html


Work safe out there, I am sure these guys wanted to go home that day.

 

[jxofaltrds]

This guy was using his Electrical Contractor truck.

http://www.dailynewsen.com/local/ci...falls-30-feet-from-bucket-truck-h2707391.html

A Circleville man died Sunday evening immediately after he touched a power line while about 30 feet up in a bucket truck because he was displaying a youngster how it worked, police mentioned right now.

Jeremiah Webb was employing the truck owned by his employer, Seyfang Electric, to take an 11-year-old pal of his daughter for a ride at about 5:30 p.m., Circleville Police Chief Wayne Gray mentioned.

Webb came into contact with a live energy line and just after the electrical energy ran through his physique, he fell out of the truck onto a parked car below.

He was flown to the Ohio State University?s Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, exactly where he died a handful of hours later.

It all happened at 1303 Pickaway St., Webb?s parents? home. He lived behind them, Gray stated.

Gray stated investigators don?t know if Webb was electrocuted or died from the fall. An autopsy is becoming accomplished.

The girl was not injured, Gray mentioned. But since of the place of the truck and the live power lines, she was stuck in the air alone for about 40 minutes. A worker from American Electric Energy arrived and raised his own bucket truck into the air to rescue her after the energy was cut.

?She was a quite brave small girl,? mentioned Gray who, along with his officers, talked to her from the ground and did what they could to hold her calm.

Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.

 

[Ponchik]

I thought the fine was $7000 until I saw the page that shows the total fine.
:jawdrop::jawdrop:
I wonder where the money/fine goes to? Does the family of the injured get any?

 

[iwire]

I wonder where the money/fine goes to? Does the family of the injured get any?

The family does not get any of the fine.

They would have to file a civil suit against the company if they want money or feel that a suit would be of some benefit.

 

[JoeTroubleShoot]

I thought they were the only two people on the job. If that was the case then how does OSHA know what they did or didn't do. Maybe there were more people on the job? I also heard that they had been having trouble with that truck and another crew had refused to use it. That's just speculation. Once again nobody really knows what really happened. I thought something seemed strange about that accident when I saw the photos as well.

 

[GoldDigger]

I thought they were the only two people on the job. If that was the case then how does OSHA know what they did or didn't do. Maybe there were more people on the job? I also heard that they had been having trouble with that truck and another crew had refused to use it. That's just speculation. Once again nobody really knows what really happened. I thought something seemed strange about that accident when I saw the photos as well.

Even without direct testimony, some of the items can inferred.
In particular if the load/reach tables showed their configuration as out of bounds, they did not use them or did not use them properly.
And they clearly did not do trial lifts with weight on the platform.
Any training they did or did not have would be a matter of record.

One thing which is clear from the photo showing the angle of the boom to the truck is that once the tipping movement started it would accelerate since the moment arm of the platform would increase while the moment arm of the truck body would decrease.
I would like to know more about the automatic protection system and why it did not work as intended.

 

[gadfly56]

Even without direct testimony, some of the items can inferred.
In particular if the load/reach tables showed their configuration as out of bounds, they did not use them or did not use them properly.
And they clearly did not do trial lifts with weight on the platform.
Any training they did or did not have would be a matter of record.

One thing which is clear from the photo showing the angle of the boom to the truck is that once the tipping movement started it would accelerate since the moment arm of the platform would increase while the moment arm of the truck body would decrease.
I would like to know more about the automatic protection system and why it did not work as intended.

It's difficult to see, at best, but it looks like there are piles of aggregate near enough to the scene that there is at least one individual in the aggregate field. If the ground is unstable, it may have shifted too quickly for the automatic protection system to operate.

 

[JoeTroubleShoot]

Yeah I agree with all the things that can be inferred, but what actually happened is unknown. I don't know anything about that truck/crane, but most larger lifts will not move at all if they are out of level. I don't think they were carrying anything with them in the basket of significant weight. It is possible to get the boom moving too fast and the shock weight of trying to stop it could result in tipping especially on unstable ground. You obviously start moving really fast when your out on the end of a boom if you go full throttle. I've seen people tip trucks with protection from doing this, luckily without people on them. Not making any excuses for anyone. Just wish sometimes there were accounts of what the final mistake was.

I don't even know what they were actually doing. There were no grounds on the line and to my knowledge there was no hot transmission work being done. Maybe they were going up to start grounding. Definitely should have tested the weight they were using but two guys and some grounds and tools can't weigh more than 500 lbs which seems minimal for that truck. All just guesses because even the guys who work for the company don't have many details on the accident.

They shouldn't have been up in the air alone either. If something isn't grounded, then it's alive and if it's alive at transmission voltage then you need someone on the ground. I guess technically you can get around the rules by saying you're using a stick to test and ground, but it seems crazy to me to not have 3 or 4 guys there.

 

[K8MHZ]

The only time I have ever been on a site where there was a truck tipped over it was one of those type cranes.

The operator was using the outboard controls to unload large concrete sections for trendway. As I walked by, I hear a 'boom'. I looked over, saw nothing and the operator and I exchanged puzzled looks. Just as I turned and took a couple steps, I heard a loud crash. I turned around and saw the truck on its side and the load and boom tangled up in building steel.

The op was OK, but got fired. It seems he put one outrigger on a trendway cover and it broke, allowing the truck to tip over and crash the load into the new building steel.