Shocked

[Striker]

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A man was hospitalized in critical condition after being shocked by power lines while trimming a tree in the south side of the city, NewsChannel 4's Larry Roberts reported.




Tree Trimmer Hits Power Line





The injury happened at about 10:30 a.m. near 5th and High streets. Thousands of volts of electricity flowed through the man's body, Roberts reported.

Gabe McCoy, 59, was trimming the tree while on a ladder when his aluminum cutter pole came in contact with a wire. The ladder and pole remained in the tree as police and American Electric Power representatives investigated the scene.

A police chief said there are several power lines in the tree and that each one carries 7,620 volts of electricity.

The man's tree-trimming partner of 35 years, Don Jude, said he heard a zapping sound and then saw McCoy fall out of the tree.



McCoy was wearing a harness, which stopped his fall just a few feet from the ground. As Jude tried to help his friend, who was unconscious, a local delivery driver, Troy Hatfield, ran to help. He cut the straps of the harness and the two lowered McCoy to the ground. That was when medics arrived.

McCoy remained in critical condition as of 5 p.m. Tuesday.

McCoy and Jude planted the tree in the yard more than 20 years ago, Roberts reported.

 

[Stumper]

So sad- He showed some good judgement in wearing his "harness" but there are reasons why aluminium poles aren't supposed to be used near power lines.

 

[NickfromWI]

Harness only kept him a few feet from the ground. I can only wonder how high up he was. Much slack in the system? That could have alleviated a lot of the shock loading on his body.

love
nick

 

[Curtis James]

I am a few months into line clearence and hate to hear things like this. I would imagine him still on the ladder installing his rope with the pruner begining his ascent and pruning as he goes. Four years ago a guy from our lot got hit under his arm from direct contact to a service drop to someones house. he was putting the phone line back up because a trimmer knocked it down. it wasn't broke it had just dropped to much slack, as he reached over his sweat found a nick in the line to the house and that was it.

 

[arboles]

Did the shock kill him? I was welding on a cracked engine block last year and accidentally touched the rod. Yikes!! I felt the current run up my arm to my heart. Very scary indeed. Fortunately, I had the amperage turned down very low. Blume tree service does all the line clearing here. They start their climbers out at around $7.00 and hour. I would like to see the greedy fat cat that owns that company climb up there and put his life on the line for seven dollars.

 

[MasterBlaster]

7 Dollars! Thats freaking crazy!!!

 

[Crofter]

An empty stomach is a poor basis for negotiationg. You got no ''talking back money' so what you going to do. When jobs go to the lowest bidder, the wages, the quality of work and the safety conditions all go for a sh!t.

Frank

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Up here the draggers start near twice that.on ROW crews.

I think that there is a Union requiremnt in the contracts though. Wirght and Asplundh are the 2 big ones here and all there guys seem to be IBEW brothers.

 

[njarbor]

7 bucks? jeez . at davey they started me at 14.50 and hour

 

[Jumper]

Sounds like the cheap b*stards I worked for last summer. $11 Cdn per hour, and my so called "benefit package was $16 per week out of my pocket. That amount in the Metro Toronto area is peanuts, and I was expected to prune trees and trim hedges. I see they are still advertising for someone to do their SLJ's for the same cash and wish them luck. Like purchasing something, you usually get what you pay for....

 

[sonny]

he was lucky he was working around low voltage. That kicked him away. & not sucked him into the line