Painter Injured on Power Lines in Belchertown Ma

[CPOPE]

Not a lineworker accident but a good example of electricially unqualified workers in the energized area. Sad, Pray for this guy.

SAFETY ALWAYS< @ Work Home and at Play. You are your brothers keeper talk safety on the jobsite and with your family and friends. It could save a life.

BELCHERTOWN, Mass. (abc40) -- A painter from Public Utilities Maintenance, based in East Elmhurst, N.Y., who was working as a contractor for National Grid, has been transported to Baystate Medical Center Tuesday morning after he was injured around 8 a.m. while working in the area of Gate 5 of the Quabbin Reservoir, according to the electric company, which disrupted power to residents in Belchertown and Shutesbury.

National Grid spokesperson Debbie Drew said the man, who has not been identified, was painting a transmission tower off of Old Enfield Road in Belchertown and his hard hat came in contact with a conductor while he was climbing the tower. She said the line was live at the time, but locked out once contact was made. The worker climbed down on his own, she said, but was transported to the hospital.

Drew said the company also cut power to the line next to it as a safety precaution, and this disrupted service to 5,800 customers in the towns of Belchertown and Shutesbury from 8:18 to 8:41 a.m.

According to National Grid, the man was a specialty contractor who usually works around live power lines and was wearing the appropriate safety gear, however this was "an unfortunate accident."

State police said around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday a LifeFlight helicopter had been dispatched to rush the worker to a hospital, but cloud cover resulted in the man being brought to the hospital by ambulance. State police said his condition was unknown, but that he was conscious and alert.

http://www.wggb.com/Global/story.asp?S=8713707&nav=menu1460_1

[BigClive]

She said the line was live at the time, but locked out once contact was made. The worker climbed down on his own, she said, but was transported to the hospital.


Does that sound a bit odd? That enough current passed to trip the protection, but he climbed down himself? Especially when it was his head that made contact.

Sounds more like something bridging an insulator and a flash burn scenario.

[loodvig]

I find it odd the the line was hot! It must have been in non-reclosing for it to lock out.

[old lineman]

Big Clive, you were thinking that this poor fellow couldn't have taken the full brunt of energy and were wondering why the fault was of a high enough magnitute to trip the circuit.
Obviously the current didn't pass through this guys body otherwise he would have been killed out right. I've investigated accidents where the current passed over the body due to necklace chains, sweaty clothes and other reasons.
It seems to me that this is the greatest possibility. That it was either misting (clouded for the helicopter) or he was sweating a lot. This is a hot, humid area at this time of year and just climbing a tower could make you sweat a lot.
Once the current has reached another potential (conductor of another phase or the structure) the arch would start burning everything nearby including the victim. Once the air has become ionized it becomes conductive and the current can follow. Enough to trip the protection.
Often the current flow through a human is not enough to trip the circuit.
So I would have to think there was a huge ball of fire until the circuit tripped.
If the operating authority had given this contractor permission they must have told them to stay at least 10 feet from the conductor or more and the automatic reclosers would (should) have been set on manual reclose. From this vantage point I don't know whether there was one ball of fire or three.
The Old Lineman