Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report: Meter Reader Dies When He Contacts Energized Clothesline Wire in Puerto Rico.

摘要

A power company crew (a supervisor, a lineman, and two meter readers) was assigned the task of restoring secondary service to residences in an area that had been damaged by Hurricane Hugo. When the crew arrived at the jobsite after dark, the supervisor decided that two phases of an existing three-phase drop service needed to be reattached to a polemounted transformer near a residence. When the lineman had completed reattaching the two phases, one of the meter readers (the victim) went to the residence to tell the occupants that their power had been restored. As the victim stepped over a chain- link fence into the yard of the residence, he lost his balance and grabbed a wire clothesline in an effort to regain his balance. Co-workers noticed the victim was being shocked and knocked him away from the clothesline and fence. The wire clothesline was attached to a metal pole that supported the tin roof of the residence. An energized secondary service from a nearby residence had been torn loose from its connection and was lying across and energizing the tin roof, metal pole and clothesline at 110 volts. When the victim grabbed the wire clothesline, his body provided a path to ground, causing his electrocution.