staggerlee
11-29-2006, 02:23 PM
Like to hear some thoughts on this! Especially Rusty's!! Again expierence and training apparently lacking but all the "guy's" fault! What a pile of Bull@#$%!!
Broken Rules Cited In Death
By RICK ROUSOS
The Ledger
LAKELAND -- A report on the accident that killed Lakeland Electric worker Marc Moore on Aug. 26 has found numerous failures to follow standard safety rules by a crew installing a utility pole.
Part of a crane, most likely the winch cable weight, hit a live electric line, and between 450 and 560 volts arced to the wet ground where Moore and other workers were standing.
The report, which was recently released by city officials, was prepared for Lakeland Electric by J. B. Shepherd and Associates of Windermere, a private consulting firm comprised of electrical engineers and former utility supervisors.
"The employees interviewed all understand that these rules were not followed," the report said. "Some were aware of the rules before the incident; others were not . . .
"They apparently shared a common (erroneous) belief that the rubber gloves they were wearing would protect them from injury if the crane contacted the energized conductors. The experienced employees displayed a cavalier attitude regarding setting a pole in proximity to energized conductors."
Moore, 31, a special-equipment operator, was working with a four-man crew setting a 1,470pound, 40-foot utility pole in a pre-dug hole near an existing 35foot pole in the rear of Citrus Woods Mobile Home Park, 1610 Reynolds Road.
Another four-man line crew was preparing to leave the site after installing some insulated wiring for the pole crew when the accident took place. Two other utility workers were also at the scene.
Investigators interviewed eight workers, including seven eyewitnesses.
One of them was Lakeland Electric lineman Steve Doyle, who told investigators he knew something was terribly wrong.
"I was walking toward the truck when I heard someone yell `stop.' I turned and saw a fire like I have never seen before," said Doyle, Moore's cousin. "Fire was coming off the fence and the rig, and the cable TV wires were smoking . . ."
Moore was killed when he tried to run away from being shocked, but tripped over the legs attached to the crane to keep it stable and fell to the wet, energized ground. Although the sky was sunny, the ground was wet from rain earlier in the day.
Four other workers felt shocks in their feet and were taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center for observation.
The report determined that the pole crew disregarded safety policies and a warning from a fellow worker. The deficiencies cited include:
Lack of a job briefing prior to doing the job to discuss what was supposed to take place. Both national and Lakeland Electric policy calls for such a meeting.
Ignoring a Lakeland Electric policy dictating that a crew member is supposed to stand away from the crane with a better angle to see that the crane doesn't hit any wiring. This crew member is supposed to direct the crane operator with hand signals. That didn't happen.
The crane wasn't grounded, but that is not required by Lakeland Electric or national policy.
The live line wasn't covered with the temporary insulation, and some parts of it were covered with a material not intended to be used for the job. One employee told investigators it was more dangerous to cover a live wire with insulation than it was to work near a live wire.
Willy Pinkston, a lineman, warned the pole-setting crew that the crane should be moved because it was in a position where it couldn't clear the primary electrical line, but the crew didn't listen.
Eddy Johnson, an operations supervisor, told investigators that the failure to move the crane farther from the live wire "was stupidity."
Lakeland Electric policy requires that equipment be no closer than two feet from an energized line.
The report also said that at least one other time a pole had come in contact with an energized wire, but there were no injuries or outage, and no report was made.
The report said: "Training and supervision are important to assure that employees understand the reasons behind the rules and develop a respect for them. Reporting of 'near misses' has proved to be a valuable tool."
In addition, Mark Black, the operator of the EZ Hauler model 2500 crane used to set the utility pole, had little experience with that piece of equipment. The rest of the crew had little or no experience with that crane, as well.
Black told investigators he had only set one other 40-foot pole with the EZ Hauler, and said when he gets close to a primary electric line "I take a deep breath and hold it."
He said he moved the boom as high as it would go.
Black said that when someone yelled "It's shocking me, Mark!" that he lowered the boom into the conductor in an effort to "make hard contact and blow a fuse."
This caused the voltage coming downward to increase, the report said.
But investigators took issue with some of Black's comments. They concluded that Black may not have had the boom in its highest position at the time of contact. They also concluded that Black's contention that he tried to blow a circuit was false, that he more likely pushed buttons randomly "in a panic reaction."
Lakeland Electric supervisors, who face the potential of a lawsuit by Moore's widow, were not eager to discuss the investigative report.
"The report speaks for itself," Bob Rodi, the director of energy delivery, said in an interview.
Lakeland Electric stopped using foremen on such jobs three or four months ago, Rodi said, and now use lead workers, who both work on the job and supervise. Foremen were supervisors who directed others but didn't work alongside them.
Rodi said he would not comment on some of the particulars of the report.
He said that in March the utility began a comprehensive review of its practices and procedures, and said some steps have been taken as a result of the continuing review, not the fatal accident.
"Some of the changes are under way," Rodi said. "Insulated shoes are being worn," and other changes are forthcoming.
Only one man on the pole-setting crew, Black, was wearing insulated shoes when the accident occurred. He told investigators he wore them not for safety, but because his boots were "old and leaky."
"Whenever there's a horrific accident, we have to look at many aspects of the safety process," Rodi said. "In March, we started a comprehensive review that covers all the different aspects of trying to prevent this kind of thing from happening again.
"In any of these accidents, there are going to be three or four steps, like talking over the job before you do it, that need to be done. We're trying to learn from a tragedy so that people can accept the changes that have to be made."
The city is spending $45,000 for a comprehensive utility safety audit, which was approved in September and is being conducted by Mr. Electrical Safety, a private consulting company.
City Attorney Tim McCausland said Friday that the hiring of the safety consultant was "part and parcel" to changes being made following Moore's death.
Lakeland Electric General Manager Keith Hulbert said he didn't want to comment on the particulars of the accident "because those are the things that are being revisited with our employees."
"This has been a tragic accident, and we have been in the process of making sure the operational and safety practices for our line of work will reflect some of the best in the Southeast," Hulbert said.
"What our people do is dangerous work."
Rick Rousos can be reached at rick.rousos@theledger.com or 863-802-7516.
Broken Rules Cited In Death
By RICK ROUSOS
The Ledger
LAKELAND -- A report on the accident that killed Lakeland Electric worker Marc Moore on Aug. 26 has found numerous failures to follow standard safety rules by a crew installing a utility pole.
Part of a crane, most likely the winch cable weight, hit a live electric line, and between 450 and 560 volts arced to the wet ground where Moore and other workers were standing.
The report, which was recently released by city officials, was prepared for Lakeland Electric by J. B. Shepherd and Associates of Windermere, a private consulting firm comprised of electrical engineers and former utility supervisors.
"The employees interviewed all understand that these rules were not followed," the report said. "Some were aware of the rules before the incident; others were not . . .
"They apparently shared a common (erroneous) belief that the rubber gloves they were wearing would protect them from injury if the crane contacted the energized conductors. The experienced employees displayed a cavalier attitude regarding setting a pole in proximity to energized conductors."
Moore, 31, a special-equipment operator, was working with a four-man crew setting a 1,470pound, 40-foot utility pole in a pre-dug hole near an existing 35foot pole in the rear of Citrus Woods Mobile Home Park, 1610 Reynolds Road.
Another four-man line crew was preparing to leave the site after installing some insulated wiring for the pole crew when the accident took place. Two other utility workers were also at the scene.
Investigators interviewed eight workers, including seven eyewitnesses.
One of them was Lakeland Electric lineman Steve Doyle, who told investigators he knew something was terribly wrong.
"I was walking toward the truck when I heard someone yell `stop.' I turned and saw a fire like I have never seen before," said Doyle, Moore's cousin. "Fire was coming off the fence and the rig, and the cable TV wires were smoking . . ."
Moore was killed when he tried to run away from being shocked, but tripped over the legs attached to the crane to keep it stable and fell to the wet, energized ground. Although the sky was sunny, the ground was wet from rain earlier in the day.
Four other workers felt shocks in their feet and were taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center for observation.
The report determined that the pole crew disregarded safety policies and a warning from a fellow worker. The deficiencies cited include:
Lack of a job briefing prior to doing the job to discuss what was supposed to take place. Both national and Lakeland Electric policy calls for such a meeting.
Ignoring a Lakeland Electric policy dictating that a crew member is supposed to stand away from the crane with a better angle to see that the crane doesn't hit any wiring. This crew member is supposed to direct the crane operator with hand signals. That didn't happen.
The crane wasn't grounded, but that is not required by Lakeland Electric or national policy.
The live line wasn't covered with the temporary insulation, and some parts of it were covered with a material not intended to be used for the job. One employee told investigators it was more dangerous to cover a live wire with insulation than it was to work near a live wire.
Willy Pinkston, a lineman, warned the pole-setting crew that the crane should be moved because it was in a position where it couldn't clear the primary electrical line, but the crew didn't listen.
Eddy Johnson, an operations supervisor, told investigators that the failure to move the crane farther from the live wire "was stupidity."
Lakeland Electric policy requires that equipment be no closer than two feet from an energized line.
The report also said that at least one other time a pole had come in contact with an energized wire, but there were no injuries or outage, and no report was made.
The report said: "Training and supervision are important to assure that employees understand the reasons behind the rules and develop a respect for them. Reporting of 'near misses' has proved to be a valuable tool."
In addition, Mark Black, the operator of the EZ Hauler model 2500 crane used to set the utility pole, had little experience with that piece of equipment. The rest of the crew had little or no experience with that crane, as well.
Black told investigators he had only set one other 40-foot pole with the EZ Hauler, and said when he gets close to a primary electric line "I take a deep breath and hold it."
He said he moved the boom as high as it would go.
Black said that when someone yelled "It's shocking me, Mark!" that he lowered the boom into the conductor in an effort to "make hard contact and blow a fuse."
This caused the voltage coming downward to increase, the report said.
But investigators took issue with some of Black's comments. They concluded that Black may not have had the boom in its highest position at the time of contact. They also concluded that Black's contention that he tried to blow a circuit was false, that he more likely pushed buttons randomly "in a panic reaction."
Lakeland Electric supervisors, who face the potential of a lawsuit by Moore's widow, were not eager to discuss the investigative report.
"The report speaks for itself," Bob Rodi, the director of energy delivery, said in an interview.
Lakeland Electric stopped using foremen on such jobs three or four months ago, Rodi said, and now use lead workers, who both work on the job and supervise. Foremen were supervisors who directed others but didn't work alongside them.
Rodi said he would not comment on some of the particulars of the report.
He said that in March the utility began a comprehensive review of its practices and procedures, and said some steps have been taken as a result of the continuing review, not the fatal accident.
"Some of the changes are under way," Rodi said. "Insulated shoes are being worn," and other changes are forthcoming.
Only one man on the pole-setting crew, Black, was wearing insulated shoes when the accident occurred. He told investigators he wore them not for safety, but because his boots were "old and leaky."
"Whenever there's a horrific accident, we have to look at many aspects of the safety process," Rodi said. "In March, we started a comprehensive review that covers all the different aspects of trying to prevent this kind of thing from happening again.
"In any of these accidents, there are going to be three or four steps, like talking over the job before you do it, that need to be done. We're trying to learn from a tragedy so that people can accept the changes that have to be made."
The city is spending $45,000 for a comprehensive utility safety audit, which was approved in September and is being conducted by Mr. Electrical Safety, a private consulting company.
City Attorney Tim McCausland said Friday that the hiring of the safety consultant was "part and parcel" to changes being made following Moore's death.
Lakeland Electric General Manager Keith Hulbert said he didn't want to comment on the particulars of the accident "because those are the things that are being revisited with our employees."
"This has been a tragic accident, and we have been in the process of making sure the operational and safety practices for our line of work will reflect some of the best in the Southeast," Hulbert said.
"What our people do is dangerous work."
Rick Rousos can be reached at rick.rousos@theledger.com or 863-802-7516.