OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14352462
J C SAFFOLD COMPANY
GORDON, AL—
Event description
ELECTRIC SHOCK - DIRECT CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE
Investigation abstract
THE OWNER AND AN EMPLOYEE (THE OWNER'S SPOUSE) OF A LOGGING CONTRACTING FIRM WER E OWNER ENTERED THE TRUCK CAB AND BEGAN TO DRIVE THE VEHICLE FORWARD TO PULL THE TREE AWAY FROM THE POWER LINES. HOWEVER, THE TRUCK STALLED AND ROLLED BACKWARD. THE CUT TREE SLOWLY DESCENDED INTO THE POWER LINES STRETCHING THEM TOWARD THE G ROUND. THE EMPLOYEE RAN AND WAS ELECTROCUTED AS SHE CONTACTED THE POWER LINE. E FELLING TREES IN AN AREA ADJACENT TO OVERHEAD POWER LINES OPERATING AT 7,620 V OLTS. THE TREES BEING FELLED WERE VERY CLOSE TO THE POWER LINES SO THE OWNER OF THE COMPANY DEVISED HIS OWN SYSTEM TO FELL THE TREES NEXT TO THE LINES. HE WAS U SING A BOOM TRUCK WITH ITS LOAD LINE AND A HOOK. HE POSITIONED THE TRUCK UNDERNE ATH THE POWER LINE, AND PAID OUT THE LOAD LINE AROUND AN ADJACENT TREE, USING IT AS A PULLEY. THE LOAD LINE WAS WRAPPED AROUND THE TREE TO BE FELLED AND SECURED WITH THE HOOK. WHILE THE EMPLOYEE WAS STANDING AT THE REAR OF THE TRUCK OPERATI NG THE CONTROLS FOR THE BOOM AND LOAD LINE, THE OWNER PARTIALLY CUT THE TREE. TH
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 54 F
- Nature of injury
- 10
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 13
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 496
- Human factor
- 1
- 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.