Reduce your risk of electrocution

Reduce your risk of electrocution

by Barbara Mulhern and Virgil Casini

A construction worker was lowering a 20'-long steel rod from scaffolding onto cinder blocks when the rod touched an energized overhead power line. The worker was electrocuted and fell back onto the scaffolding with the rod still gripped in his hand.

In a second incident, a crew was instructed to replace a scaffold positioned about 10' horizontally from a 13,750-volt overhead line. When the crew tried to lift the scaffold 5', the top section partially separated from the adjoining section, toppled over and contacted the power line. Two workers were electrocuted and five workers were hospitalized with electrical burns.

These incidents are among the hundreds of occupational electrocutions that occur in the United States each year and nearly half of them occur in the construction industry.

Researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) believe these fatalities, burns and other serious injuries from electricity can be prevented. It has developed many practical recommendations aimed at reducing the risk of deaths and non-fatal injuries from electricity at construction sites.

Metal ladders and power lines don’t mix
The use of portable metal ladders near energized overhead power lines is a major cause of electrocutions on jobsites. Nearly four times as many construction workers were electrocuted in incidents involving ladders than in incidents involving scaffolds from 1992 through 1998, NIOSH researchers report.

A NIOSH ALERT entitled, Electrocution of Workers Using Portable Metal Ladders Near Overhead Power Lines addresses this important issue. NIOSH notes that many electrocutions have occurred when workers have set up or relocated ladders near overhead power lines. If non-conductive fiberglass ladders had been used instead, or if safe working clearances had been maintained, these deaths might have been prevented.

The NIOSH ALERT about electrocution recommends:

Employers and workers should comply with the OSHA regulation prohibiting the use of portable metal or conductive ladders for electrical work or in locations where they may contact electrical conductors.
Employers should fully inform workers about the hazards of using portable metal (including aluminum) ladders near energized power lines.
To assure protection of anyone working near electrical power lines, make arrangements with the power company to de-energize the lines or cover the lines with insulating line hoses or blankets.

Scaffolds can be shocking
The NIOSH ALERT, Preventing Electrocutions During Work with Scaffolds Near Overhead Power Lines, identifies the following hazards that have resulted in death:

Erecting, moving or working from metal or conductive scaffolds near overhead power lines.
Working from scaffolds while using conductive tools or materials near overhead lines.

NIOSH makes these recommendations to help prevent electrocution while working on scaffolds:

Comply with current OSHA regulations for working with scaffolds near energized power lines.
Train workers in the hazards associated with scaffolds and power lines. Place special emphasis on avoiding inadvertent contact with energized power lines.
Conduct daily hazard surveys at each jobsite before starting work, then implement appropriate control measures and training to address identified hazards.
Inform workers about the hazards of erecting, moving or working from scaffolds near overhead power lines or other energized circuits. Emphasize that most overhead high voltage lines are not insulated – if there is any doubt, workers should not assume lines are insulated.
Monitor the clearance between power lines and the scaffold. If a scaffold is to be moved in the vicinity of overhead power lines, assign a competent worker to observe the clearance and warn others if the minimum clearance distance is not maintained.
Do not use electrically conductive tools or materials in situations where they may contact overhead power lines.
Establish emergency procedures in case a scaffold contacts a power line.
Keep all unauthorized persons away from the area.

NIOSH sources also suggest that employers ensure workers check the scaffold’s distance from overhead power lines, vertical clearance between the ground and any sagging power lines, scaffold height and weight, wheel condition, obstacles, ground slope or changes in elevation that may alter clearance distance, other ground or floor conditions.

Cranes, overhead power lines don’t mix
According to NIOSH, an average of 15 electrocutions occur each year from contact between cranes or similar boomed vehicles and energized overhead power lines. Among those especially at risk are workers handling taglines or crane loads, workers who are in contact with the crane, and operators who leave the crane cab.

In the NIOSH ALERT, Preventing Electrocutions of Crane Operators and Crew Members Working Near Overhead Power Lines, NIOSH sources recommend that crane workers who are around power lines must be trained and reminded of regulations designed to keep them safe.

Workers must comply with applicable OSHA regulations, including those that require workers and employers to consider all overhead power lines to be energized until:
      (1) the owner of the lines or the
           electric utility indicates that they
           are not energized, and
      (2) they have been visibly grounded.
Workers must follow American National Standards Institute (ANSI) guidelines for operating cranes near overhead power lines.
Before beginning work near power lines, notify the owners of the lines or their authorized representatives and tell them the type of equipment (including length of boom), and date, time and type of work involved. Request their cooperation to de-energize and ground the lines or to help provide insulated barriers. Consider de-energizing the lines, whenever possible, as the primary means of preventing injury.
Know the location and voltage of all overhead power lines at the jobsite before operating or working with any crane.
Evaluate job sites before beginning work to determine the safest areas for material storage, the best placement for machinery during operations and the size and type of machinery to be used.
Designate workers to observe clearance during crane operation. Do not give these workers any other duties or responsibilities.
Evaluate other work methods that do not require the use of cranes.

Get prompt emergency care
Regardless of how a worker comes into contact with high- or low-voltage electric energy, immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) followed by advanced cardiac life support can save lives.

The NIOSH ALERT, Preventing Fatalities of Workers Who Contact Electrical Energy, suggests that electrocution victims can be revived if immediate CPR or defibrillation is provided. While immediate defibrillation would be ideal, CPR administered within approximately four minutes of the electrocution, followed by advanced cardiac life support within approximately eight minutes, can be lifesaving.

No one who works with or around electric energy should work alone. Use a buddy system and have both workers trained in CPR.
Ensure that everyone who works with or around electrical energy is familiar with emergency procedures that should include knowing how to de-energize the electrical system before rescuing or beginning CPR on a worker who remains in contact with an electrical energy source.
Ensure that CPR and first aid is immediately available at each jobsite so prompt care (within four minutes) can be provided.
Work out provisions at each jobsite to provide advanced cardiac life support – within eight minutes, if possible – generally by calling an ambulance staffed by paramedics. Ensure that signs are posted giving the correct emergency number to call and that workers are educated regarding what information to relay once the call is made.
Co-workers should not attempt to rescue a victim until they are sure that the victim is not in contact with a source of electrical energy. To do otherwise merely results in rescuers becoming victims, too.

Editor’s note: Barbara Mulhern is a freelance writer who specializes in safety and health issues; Virgil Casini is a senior investigator with the Fatality Investigations Team, NIOSH, Division of Safety Research.

Published in the March/April 2008 issue of Contractor Tools and Supplies magazine.