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Electrical Work is No Joke

jar546

CBO
Joined
Oct 16, 2009
Messages
13,000
Location
Not where I really want to be
This could have been anyone, including an inspector opening up a panelboard.

At approximately 3:00 p.m. on November 28, 2007, Employee #1 was working as a foreman for an electrical contractor that was installing panels, transformers, and lighting into a newly-constructed single-story commercial building in Hawthorne, CA. At the time of the accident, he was completing the installation of electrical panels in the building's electrical meter room. Employee #1 was apparently working alone and he was discovered by coworkers on the ground in the panel room, next to a 480-volt pull panel from which the cover had been removed. The coworkers contacted Emergency Services. One of the firemen later stated that the 480-volt pull panel was energized and that one energized conductor was hanging loose in the panel. Employee #1 was transported to the Little Company of Mary Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:55 p.m. The County of Los Angeles Coroner's report listed the cause of death as electrocution, from contact with energized electrical equipment due to the lack of proper work procedures, safeguards, and barriers, and the lack of personal protective equipment. The employer was cited for a violation, regulatory, of T8CCR 342(a), for failing to report a serious accident; for a violation, general, of T8CCR 1509(b), for the lack of a code of safe practices for electrical work; and an accident-related violation, serious, of T8CCR 2320.2(a), for work on energized equipment without proper procedures.
 
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