Two men killed in power-line accident

[CPOPE]

DeRidder, La. -
Two men were fatally electrocuted while performing routine right-of-way maintenance on power lines near Tanglewood Loop.

Monday around noon, 911 received a call that two men had been electrocuted. First Responders learned that the men, Michael Brister, 41 and William Bailey, 35 both of DeRidder, were working around a high voltage power line.

A tree trimming crew was performing a routine right-of-way maintenance when a piece of equipment became entangled and de-energized the power line. William Bailey, a lineman for Cleco Power, was dispatched to the outage. The men were working to resolve the situation when the line was energized.

Bailey was pronounced dead at the scene and Brister was airlifted by helicopter to Beauregard Memorial Hospital, but later died of injuries he sustained.

President of Cleco Power, Deliek Samil, said, “We would like to express our deepest sympathies to everyone involved in the incident including the families of both men and the Cleco Family.” She said that Bailey was an experienced and very qualified line mechanic and this was a horrible tragedy.
The contractor responsible for the trimming the trees were not able to be reached for comment.
http://www.deridderdailynews.com/new...-line-accident

[Bull Dog]

How did this line become energized I would like to know. Rest in peace

[mx-5]

test to be de-energized and ground....whats up with this...at the least wear your rubber gloves....please..

[Meat]

How did this line become energized I would like to know. Rest in peace

Sounds like a series of mistakes. Sick stuff. R.I.P guys.

[mx-5]

also sounds like a hurry to get the lights on...

[Meat]

also sounds like a hurry to get the lights on...

I think you're exactly right. Seen that before. Meat.

[LINCRW]

A CLECO lineman and a vegetation contractor in DeRidder, La. , died last month in an incident while working on a power line. Please share the details with members of your group.



Vegetation crew was clearing a ROW with Transmission line and Dist underbuild, near a structure that had a single phase lateral that was fused on the same structure. The fuse switch had been installed well below the lateral takeoff to allow the switch to be reached with an extendo from the ground. This meant the source and load jumpers off the switch went back up the pole above the switch. The Vege crew had a tractor/bush hog and a giraffe, and a third employee on site. The bush hog bumped a guy and caused an outage on the lateral, and a lineman was dispatched to the scene, which was rear lot in a residential area. Before the lineman arrived, the giraffe operator decided to side trim on the lateral while the line was out. While cutting, a limb fell onto the de-energized primary line and caused the wire to break. The operator then used the boom of the giraffe to move the conductor into some trees to clear the wire from the work area.



When the lineman arrived, he parked on the street and walked to the ROW to view the trouble. At some point, he decided to go ahead and get the conductor out of the trees and lay it back into the ROW to get ready to repair. The giraffe operator again used his boom to help the lineman get the wire out of the trees, and one of the other Vege employees was assisting the lineman on the ground. As the wire was being moved, the load jumper on the takeoff pole twisted and welded onto the top of the fuse switch which was still energized. This energized the conductor they were handling and resulted in the two fatalities.

[mx-5]

nothing we all haven't done..just a weird thing with the jumpers..still i always go to the lateral switch first..take out the barrel and if long jumpers like that(which is rare) i get the extendo and take off the top side...dam...

[CPOPE]

This is just such a bummer we can't help but want to find blame.
I'm the first one to hate a monday morning quaterback!
Accidents like this force change, they should never happen but happen way to often.
Learn from others mistakes, Pray for them

test to be de-energized and ground....whats up with this...at the least wear your rubber gloves....please..

Even if they had gloves on Step Potential can be a killer. No way to approach a downed conductor without dielectric footwear. Please do test de-energized and ground. Stop the rush to get the lights back on and think before you act. Was there a written tailboard?

http://www.powerlineman.com/lforum/s...wned+conductor

[LINCRW]

Whetere or not there was a written safety plan or not, I hope the men and women of CLECO can prevent this from happening again. I also hope the vegetation company appropriately addresses what the crew did with the conductor.