I'm a line maintainer in Canada , some things here make little sense to me. If there was a primary up top and a neutral below arranged vertically on the pole how did he manage to short both of them on the cylinder. Was the truck grounded ? (it should be, to protect workers on the ground). Has the truck been dielectrically tested ? ( it must be yearly to work around hydro lines ). Great ideas about hold offs on the circuit but that is not for personal protection, only equipment protection. ( hydro owned equipment not your truck ). And finally limits of approach are for trained and qualified through training and experience employees , they vary with voltage and if any coverup is applied to the conductor, furthermore you should be wearing voltage appropriate rubber gloves around live conductors.
Electric Line Mishap?????
- Thread starter teamtree
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Crew is fine......they are not employed with our company......
From what I gathered from interviews and inspecting the truck.....the cylinder touched the top wire then as the operator pushed the bucket further towards the tree the cylinder touched the lower wire.....
The truck was sent to testing after the incident, the cylinder is being replaced and a couple of other repairs are being made.
All our employees attended EHAP training last week. SOP....Our estimators are noting conflicts with wires and notifying local electric companies.
One of the biggest things I have taken out of this situation is that we are having the crew sign off on a work plan....if I tell them to do something....they sign off on the work order and then if they disobey...then it is there problem.
We do the same thing at work ....discuss the job ,hold a site meeting , everyone signs off that they agree and understand however if something goes for a $hit whether incompetence or not following the plan I'm still responsible whether I'm at the job or not. Having a site foreman seems like a good idea.
Sean80
ArboristSite Member
Here in Ontario it's actually law to have a tailboard meeting when working within the limits of approach to ensure everyone understands the job at hand. My crew always has a dedicated spotter that is on the ground and they carry a radio from the utility company. To think the guy had the boom up against a wire and then pushed it into another wire is crazy! He must not have been paying any attention to what he was doing. He may have lost his job, but he could have lost a lot more.
alonfn4
ArboristSite Member
I won't go near line to this day when I was 12 or 13 there was a down pole outside of school and a small puddle in the road and I watched a poor little squirrel get fried to a blackened charr as it stuck it paw in the puddle
I will never forget that
I will never forget that
