CenterPoint Energy

An employee was working as a crew member at a substation when the employee placed a test lead from a tube stick on an energized conductor. An arc flash occurred, causing thermal burns to the employee's face and chest.

An employee was repairing a leak in a gas line. He was cutting the line when a flash occurred and severely burned both of his hands, requiring hospitalization.

An employee was performing an inspection in the backyard of a house when a dog ran outside of the house. The employee suffered shortness of breath and chest pain. The employee was hospitalized for a heart attack.

An employee was removing a tree from a powerline to restore electrical power to a neighborhood. The employee was on a de-energized pole when an electrical flash occurred, burning the employee's chest and torso.

An employee was pulling and spraying weeds in the median of a road. A car ran off the road and struck the employee breaking his left leg.

An employee was placing sod alongside a roadway. After being hit by a car mirror, the employee jumped back and fell into the path of a skid steer that was backing up. The skid steer ran over his legs, breaking both of them.

On September 18, 2020, at 6:21 AM an employee working on the rear passenger side of the garbage truck was struck by a vehicle while picking up curbside garbage. The employee suffered a broken orbital bone, broken cervical discs and facial lacerations.

An employee was loading packages into the right side of a mail truck when a garbage truck struck the left rear-end of the mail truck. The impact pushed the mail truck onto the sidewalk and into a building, and the employee was thrown from the truck to the ground. The employee suffered collarbone and head fractures.

A vehicle struck an employee while she was walking across a parking lot, breaking her right shoulder and her tibia.

An employee was operating an aerial work platform. While the employee was maneuvering the lift through a set of double doors, their head was caught between the door frame and the platform's vertical mast. The employee suffered a skull fracture that required surgery.

An employee was transporting used filter media (containing pyrophoric iron sulfide) from an inlet gas separator in the bed of a truck. The material ignited. While the employee was removing items from the truck bed, a gas can was exposed to the fire and off-gassing vapors ignited. The employee suffered first- and second-degree burns to both arms, the chest, the neck, and the right ear. The employee was hospitalized.

An employee was using a pipe threading machine to thread a 2-inch diameter gas pipe during the rebuilding of a gas meter. The pipe was in a vise mounted on the back of the crew truck. A few pieces of metal chips or shavings caused the threading machine to jam. The employee started to back the pipe up, but it jammed in that direction as well. While reaching to pull the handle back up into place to try and start again, the machine rotated about an inch and pinched his middle fingertip against the edge of the truck s back step. The employee's fingertip was partially amputated without loss of bone.

The injured employee was manually lowering a ramp on a heavy equipment trailer with the assistance of another employee. The injured employee was standing behind the trailer ramp. After removing the safety pins, the ramp descended quickly and struck the injured employee, causing them to fall to the ground. The employee was hospitalized with fractures to their sternum and L1 vertebra.

An employee was lighting a tankless water heater when an explosion occurred and the employee was burned.

A driver was exiting his vehicle outside the plant gate when his foot slipped on the top step of the truck. He fell to the ground, landed on his left hip and elbow. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured hip/femur.

A security employee was responding to an urgent call from staff regarding a violent patient. The employee tripped and fell on the floor outside of the stairwell. The employee sustained a closed head injury, contusion of the cerebrum without loss of consciousness, and a closed fracture of the distal end of the right radius.

A security employee was holstering her firearm when the gun discharged a bullet into her right leg. The employee was hospitalized.

A temporary employee was testing an electrical starter motor. He was placing tape on the starter while the breaker was not engaged, but the starter sent an arc flash that burned his hands and stomach.

An employee was walking on a sidewalk and stubbed his toe on an elevated portion of concrete, causing him to trip and fall. The employee's right knee was dislocated.