Originally Posted by
dbrown20
The following are accidents I have known and have direct knowledge. I know of quite a few more but don't remember sufficient detail to make a good discription of them.
#1. On a routine night time change out of a bad transformer a lineman climbed the pole and made contact with the top of the cutout and was killed. I was told later that they gathered him up from a bar where he had been drinking.
#2.Boom fell on bucket truck killing contractor hand. I knew him and remember he was from Indiana.
#3. Pole was pulled and was top heavy. App. clung to butt and turned loose too late and broke his wrist when he hit the ground. I worked some with this app. He was a funny kid. I remember he said. "Confucius say woman who fly unside down have nasty crack up"..
#4. Backfeed through a 2400 volt transformer kills lineman on pole. I was there.
#5. Contractor App. reached from pole and grasped 477 ACSR energized at 7200. He lost hand and foot. They said he was making a good hand. I remember the old supt. showed us his leather Kuntz gloves and his Westcoast boots with holes burned in them.
#6. Lineman on pole was "beating" or "bumping" new wire in order to even up the sag with an existing energized phase. He got up too high with his rubbers and made contact. He lost one hand. He wore a hook. I was acquainted with him. He used that hook for opening oil cans and beer. Before pop tops.
#7. App. touched the ungrounded case of a single bushing pot on a trouble call. He was wearing leather gloves and received burns to both hands and fell to the ground fracturing a vertebrae in his back. He was off work for quite awhile but made a full recovery. Good friend of mine.
#8. A lineman made contact with 115 KV while changing out a switch and was killed. Worked on a crew with him once.
#9. Lineman climbed pole on 4 KV, and while waiting on the other hand, decided to tighten the 3/8 brace bolt wearing leather gloves. He brushed a phase and lost 2 fingers. I think it was on his right hand. I knew him also.
#10. Truckdriver put boom into phase and not realizing it stepped down from the corner mt. platform to the ground. He was killed. Same co. but different area.
#11.Lineman went up alone in new bucket while on trouble call. He made contact with a cutout and was killed. Same co. different area. He was in a one man area and when the crew came out to help him he wanted to try out that bucket.
#12. While hot sticking with another lineman from the pole to change out an underarm disconnect a lineman reached out with his leather gloves to hang the handline on the DA bolts at the end of the arm. A dead end bell was tracking over and he lost a foot and a hand. Supt. made a shitty remark about this guy. Said, "He was a typical Southern Calif. bucket lineman."
#13. Climbing a bare pole a lineman flippled his safety over the top of the pole and fell to the ground killing him. This was an REC hand nearby where I worked.
#14. On a very windy day a lineman was climbing one pole in an H fixture of a 115 KV line. He fell and was killed. This happened on the South Platte Project of the USBR. I worked with his friend.
#15. Three lineman were working on the top of a 115 KV transformer in a substation. It was accidently energized. One was killed, one was paralyzed from the waist down and the other received a burn on one heel. The one with the heel burn was my foreman for awhile. Good hand.
#16. A lineman placed a megger on a supposed de-energized pd mt. It was live and he received a pretty good flash burn. Made full recovery. Worked with him some but was gone when this happened.
#17. Lineman was on pole terminating URD primary. He made contact with the OH primary and was severely burned. He made a full recovery but is severely scarred. Saw him the other day. Still doing fine.
#18. Two lineman and a non-working supervisor were severely flash burned when a 600 volt rotation meter is placed on the 2400 volt secondary of a pd mt. All made full recovery but still have visible scarring. The 2 linemen eventually drug up but the other guy is still working there.
#19. Serviceman killed on storm recovery when contact is made with downed phase. I knew him but not all that good.
#20. Lineman killed while working on feeder exit cable on side of control house. Got on wrong cable. Didn't know him although we worked for same co. Different area.
#21. App. severely flashed on 138 KV. Ended his career. Didn't know him, but I saw him once in a restaurant. Didn't look good.
#22. Outrigger placed on linemans big toe. Severe crushing injury. Made it back to work after recovery. Worked some with this guy.
#23. Outrigger placed on lineman's foot. Fractured foot. Made full recovery. Had a class with him once and worked around him some.
#24. Two linemen closing in S.B. disconnects from bucket were flash burned slightly as dispatcher had closed sub breaker inadvertently, causing them to pick up unexpected load. Made OK recovery. Knew both of them. One is now dead and the other working out of the hall. He's a damn good hand.
#25.Lineman on pole touched bottom of open dip fuse thinking it was de-energized. Received burns. Made satisfactory recovery. REC contract hand. Don't know him but I am acquainted with his foreman.
#26. On storm break lineman was lifting wire with boom truck. It hung up and then flipped up hitting one man in mouth removing 6 teeth. The operator of the boom truck is long gone but the other guy is still there. A whale of a hand.
#27 Lineman made contact while attempting to build 2 pot bank on supposedly de-energized line. It wasn't and he was severely burned. He made recovery eventually and returned to work. Different area, I've met him but don't know him that well.
#28. Hanging guy from bucket with leather gloves lineman made primary contact and lost both arms. Didn't know him, but same entity. Just a different area.
#29. Hanging dead end of wire strung out on ground, with leather gloves lineman makes contact with energized phase and is killed.Same entity, different area.
#30. Another guy with a municipality does the guy hang with leather gloves and is killed when he makes contact with primary while holding onto ground. Heard of this one in a safety meeting.
#31. While hanging c/o arm underneath existing arm oil field electrician makes contact with one phase of 34.5 KV and loses both arms. Went out there on my day off and helped these electricians finish up hanging a 277/480 bank etc. They were spooked.
#32. While setting new pole with guy attached contact is made with primary and ground hand on pole is killed. REC contractor. Heard of it in safety meeting.
#33. While wearing leather gloves lineman reaches for connector tossed up from ground and simultanously touches case of Kyle with body and phase with hand. He is killed. Nearby REC. One of my fellow hands' father was the foreman who tossed up the connector to the man.
#34. While on storm break fatigued lineman climbs pole and makes contact with 7200 primary and is killed. Nearby power co. Didn't know this man.
#35. Troubleman climbs pole with one transformer of split bank and brushes primary backfeed. He receives no burns but the shock causes him to fall and break his back, paralyzing him from waist down. Worked with a friend of his.
#36. Lineman gets in series with open leads on 115 KV wave trap resulting in unconsciousness and blisters on his fingers. He makes full recovery. Same crew as me but my pole buddy and I were patroling a distance from there when this happened. Kinda funny if you knew him.
#37. While tying in new phase lineman inadvertently makes primary contact resulting in severe fire and his death. I knew him and had worked with him.
#38. Lineman climbs pole to unhang wire caught in stringing dolly. There is no traveling ground on new wire. This contract hand was killed while wearing leather gloves as new wire had contacted live primary. Didn't know him.
#39. A railroad lineman climbs a short telegraph/telephone pole and makes contact with a phase of baggy 7200 volt primary with his head. He was killed. Worked for the muni that owned the primary.
#40.A landowner is killed while repairing his barb wire fence when a phase of 7200 breaks and falls on the fence. The power co. troubleman finds the body. My old alma mater.
#41. On a storm break an app. touches a downed primary phase and receives significant burns on his hand and foot. He makes a full recovery after burn treatment in the hospt. Know him well.
#42. While boom of linetruck is in contact with primary phase a lineman touches the truck and receives a severe shock putting him in the hospital overnight. He made a full recovery. This was the guy that touched the water can to get a drink. I remember he was a Colo. native.
I still do not consider this dangerous work. It is mostly dangerous if you're not always cut in.