OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14200174
FIDELITY ENGINEERING CORPORATION
TOWSON, MD—
Event description
BURN - ELECTRICAL FAULT IN VOTAGE TESTER
Investigation abstract
An engineering firm had installed a power-line-carrier control system at a manuf tage. (The two maintenance employees did not know the operating voltage of the l ines in the substation.) One of the electricians used his 600-volt voltage teste r to check a 13-kilovolt, three-phase power line. The voltage tester failed, cre ating an electrical fault. The ensuing electric arc burned the electrician who w as using the tester. He sustained first-degree burns on his face and third-degre e burns on the back of his hands. He was hospitalized at a burn center. The othe r electrician sustained eye flash. He was transported to a hospital, where he wa s treated and released the same day. The employer held safety meetings once a mo nth, posted some safety lists, and provided on-the-job safety training. acturing plant. The system controlled a rooftop air conditioning and heating uni t. Two electricians for the engineering firm had been at the jobsite for about 3 weeks, installing the electronic controls. Over the course of 2 days, they were troubleshooting the control system. The unit would not transmit a signal. After troubleshooting the control system, they determined that the control system gro und was bad. Looking for a good ground, they entered a high-voltage electrical r oom (a substation). Two maintenance employees working for the manufacturer accom panied them into the substation, which was posted with signs warning of high vol
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 28 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 575
- Human factor
- 18
- Environmental factor
- 18
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 21 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 9
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 575
- Human factor
- 18
- Environmental factor
- 18
- Task assigned
- 1
Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.