105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14567796

ASPLUNDH TREE EXPERT CO

Event
BURN,ELECTRIC ARC,OVERHEAD POWER LINE,ELECTRICAL,TREE TRIMMING
NAICS
000000
Inspection type
Accident-driven
Activity number
#15134935
Employer profile
ASPLUNDH TREE EXPERT CO
Summary number
14567796
Report ID
454510

Event description

BURNS - ARC FROM OVERHEAD POWER LINE

Investigation abstract

AN EMPLOYEE WAS PERFORMING LINE-CLEARANCE TREE TRIMMING FROM AN INSULATED BUCKET . THE LIMBS OF THE PINE TREE HE WAS TRIMMING WERE PUSHING AGAINST THE NEUTRAL OF THE OVERHEAD POWER LINES. THE EMPLOYEE WAS USING A 7-FOOT HYDRAULIC SAW WHICH H AD A 4-FOOT, 7-INCH FIBERGLASS ROD BETWEEN THE METAL HANDLE AND THE SAW. WHEN TH E LIMBS WERE CUT, THE NEUTRAL LINE MOVED CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE PRIMARY LINE TO CAU SE AN ARC. THE EMPLOYEE RECEIVED FLASH BURNS ON HIS ARMS AND CHEST.

Victim

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 23 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    13
    Source
    15
    Occupation code
    495
    Human factor
    10
    Environmental factor
    18
    Hazardous substance
    8870
    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.