# Utility trimmer electrocuted 6/5/06



## jpzaf (Jun 9, 2006)

On Monday one of the guys I work with was trimming up in a bucket and got juiced. Some of our crews are working in the Brunswick Maine area. From what I've heard from the groundmen that were there he was cutting a leader and when it went there was another branch that it got caught up on and swung into the line.

The groundman I talked to said that they heard the pop and looked up to see him slumped over the bucket. By the time they ran over to the truck he was lowering the bucket himself. They used the lower controls to finish bringing him down. They were about 4 miles from a hospital so they drove him in.

He has burns from about the waist up to his neck and face on the front. He was up and about the next day. From what I hear he is in good spirits and wants to come back to work.


Be safe


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## inztrees (Jun 9, 2006)

*lucas*

there goes his bonus
i was a cut off man on there crane 
pm me w/ and tell me who


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## Ekka (Jun 9, 2006)

More details would be good.

I'm trying to picture what happened for him to get zapped.

Maybe the lines clashed and he was flashed?

Was the saw still in the cut when the branch contacted?

Was he holding the branch when it contacted the line.

In other words did electricity pass through him, say arms to waist (waist may well have been in contact with bucket)

Also, do you guys have fibreglass buckets or steel rails?


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## Treeblitzer (Jun 9, 2006)

If you dont mind me asking what Co. do you guys work for?


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## clearance (Jun 9, 2006)

Glad to see the guy wasn't electrocuted, as Treeco pointed out. I will correct him now, high voltage lines, not high tension. Not that much tension in any high voltage lines, they all need slack as they expand and contract with temperature and voltage changes. Can't speak to what training you guys have, makes me wonder cause you are never to run around any electrical emergency. Shuffle or hop. Was the boom insulated and tested? Was it a three phase? More information please.


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## Eagle1 (Jun 10, 2006)

```
From what I've heard from the groundmen that were there he was cutting a leader and when it went there was another branch that it got caught up on and swung into the line.
```

ok


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## clearance (Jun 25, 2006)

*Update JPZAF ????*

Whats up with buddy, c'mon, answer the questions.


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## Treeman67 (Jun 25, 2006)

*doen't make sense..*

anyone get engerized by power line by frist contacted travel downward alike right handed contacted enegery come out left legged. if he burned waisted to head, so it meant he got contatced head frist then Maybe through his waist ???? Anyone who do pruning over high tenison wire are not educated to do it have no business to do it in frist place. he lucky .. i hope he learned the lessons alike everyone else make mistakes..:bang: 
Treeman67


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## diltree (Jun 26, 2006)

*Company*

I'm going to guess you guys work for Lucus Tree Experts, they do most of the Line Clearance work in Maine. I'm very happy that your colleague made it out alive, god bless him for his positive spirit.



www.dillontree.com


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## inztrees (Jun 26, 2006)

*Lucas*

If your asking me Idont like working for next to nothing so I haVENT WORKED (opps) for them for years but look out there comming your way in mass


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## 1CallLandscape (Jun 27, 2006)

Treeman67 said:


> anyone get engerized by power line by frist contacted travel downward alike right handed contacted enegery come out left legged. if he burned waisted to head, so it meant he got contatced head frist then Maybe through his waist ???? Anyone who do pruning over high tenison wire are not educated to do it have no business to do it in frist place. he lucky .. i hope he learned the lessons alike everyone else make mistakes..:bang:
> Treeman67


My family has a couple of lineman in it and i know a little bit so here gos: he most likely got zapped first on the hand ( holding onto either a tool or the limb) and probably was either leaning with his stomach or hip against the bucket compensating for weight and stability. thus the elecrtricity took the shortest path to the ground ....entering the hand going across the chest and heart and exiting out the hip region. 

-mike


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## clearance (Jun 27, 2006)

1CallLandscape said:


> My family has a couple of lineman in it and i know a little bit so here gos: he most likely got zapped first on the hand ( holding onto either a tool or the limb) and probably was either leaning with his stomach or hip against the bucket compensating for weight and stability. thus the elecrtricity took the shortest path to the ground ....entering the hand going across the chest and heart and exiting out the hip region.
> 
> -mike


Mike, if the boom was insulated he could be leaning against the bucket and grab the live wire with his hand, and be fine. An insulated boom will is not a ground. Thats why this puzzles me and I wanted a response, even a little more information so I could try and figure it out.


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## alanarbor (Jun 27, 2006)

clearance said:


> Mike, if the boom was insulated he could be leaning against the bucket and grab the live wire with his hand, and be fine. An insulated boom will is not a ground. Thats why this puzzles me and I wanted a response, even a little more information so I could try and figure it out.




Maybe he crossed it Phase to Phase?

I have heard of a few instances where an poorly maintained boom's dielectric properties were compromised.


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## bgadway (Jun 30, 2006)

Sounds to me like it was a flash burn.. since he was burnt from waste to his head. If not it could have been "phase to ground". and whom ever said that "if the bucket is insulated you shouldn't get zapped" is full of sh!t. you don't have to be the ground to get juiced. I'm glad the he is going to be okay though.


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## clearance (Jun 30, 2006)

bgadway said:


> Sounds to me like it was a flash burn.. since he was burnt from waste to his head. If not it could have been "phase to ground". and whom ever said that "if the bucket is insulated you shouldn't get zapped" is full of sh!t. you don't have to be the ground to get juiced. I'm glad the he is going to be okay though.


Ful of sh--? really? thats why I asked if it was a three phase or what, no one came forward with information, just speculation like you. You can be in a dielectrically tested bucket and contact the line, dirrectly or indirectly and be just fine. You can lay the insulated part of the boom on the line and be ok, I have done it by accident. If you contact more than one energized line at the same time, ZAP, maybe thats what happened, maybe the boom wasn't insulated, maybe, maybe, maybe, you don't know so why call BS. Further, what are your qualifications?


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## mtvigilante (Jul 16, 2006)

any more info on this accident?


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## matthias (Jul 17, 2006)

To support Clearance, 2 weeks ago I made indirect contact with a branch on one phase from the bucket. I felt some juice in my hand as the tips brushed the line but came away unscathed. The only effects were on my underwear which turned a shade of brown.


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## CJ-7 (Jul 18, 2006)

Have you seen the Discovery Channel show where power company workers and contractors are working directly on high voltage wires (300 kv plus)? They first reach out with a stick with a wire attached to the bucket and clamp it on the wire, and you can see a small arc like static electricity. Once the bucket (and everyone in it) is at the same potential as the charged wire, they can handle it barehanded. Somewhat of a similar situation with a helicopter lift wire, due to static charges built up from the spinning blades, they often need to ground the wire (at the ground end) before handling it.


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