Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report for Minnesota: Worker Electrocuted After Touching Dump Truck that Contacted Overhead Power Line

摘要

A 36-year-old male skid-steer loader operator (victim) was electrocuted when he touched a dump truck that contacted an overhead power line. The victim was working with a truck driver from another business at the time that the incident occurred. The victim and the truck driver were working together on a project that involved spreading rocks on a residential driveway. The driveway was located in a wooded area with several overhead power lines. The truck driver had been dumping loads of rocks that the victim spread with the skid-steer loader. At the time of the incident, the truck driver was in the process of dumping the last load of rocks. The victim was guiding the truck driver around the trees and power lines. The victim signaled to the truck driver that he was clear to raise the box of the truck into the emptying position. The box of the truck was elevated into the emptying position where it made contact with an overhead power line. At that time, the victim was speaking with the truck driver while standing on the ground and holding onto a bar on the driver's side of the truck cab. The electrical current forced the victim away from the truck, to the ground. A call to emergency medical personnel was immediately placed. The truck driver performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation and artificial respiration on the victim until the emergency medical personnel arrived. The victim was transported to a local hospital and immediately transported by helicopter to the burn unit of another hospital where he died one week later. MN FACE investigators concluded that, in order to reduce the likelihood of similar occurrences, the following guidelines should be followed: (1) ensure that the local electrical utility is contacted to assist or provide guidance whenever work is performed in the vicinity of overhead power lines; (2) ensure that employees follow safe work practices whenever working near overhead powerlines or with materials which may contact overhead power lines; and (3) design, develop, and implement a comprehensive safety program.