Duke energy fatality

[ts94]

Has anyone heard anything about this pole falling with 2 men belted into it?

[Lineman North Florida]

Has anyone heard anything about this pole falling with 2 men belted into it?

Heard about it this morning, but no one in our safety meeting had anything concrete on it other than what they had heard.

[Lineman North Florida]

Just googled it and the story I read said 1 lineman was killed and the other has serious injuries, both were up a pole approx 22' when it broke and they come to the dirt with it. Sad situation, prayers to the families and co-workers. Charlie.

[reppy007]

I second that LNF....Im asking myself if the squeeze would prevent a lineman from getting away from a pole in a situation like that,even though when they fall a guy might not have much time to react....sad situation.

[Pootnaigle]

Umm I bleve they relax the squeeze rule if'n yer gonna climb a pole that falls

[bobbo]

I baled on one pole in my life. An old man said if you ever freeze, your feet is the only thing your brain can control, so cut out and break . My 2 friends were hung up in a pole fire. One guy waked on the phone and jumped from the phone . The other guy got engulfed because he was hesitant can't work another day. Most of the journeyman lineman today can't climb as good as my groundsman did when I let them unhook phone or take those phone boxes off. I used to let them when they got their climbing school dates. that squeeze is good for situations but not all. I don't think distribution in a populous area. A rural co op, or transmission with nothing built under works. I don't know how you would put out the wild fires on it with H frames with that thing. How can a real lineman endorse that thing? They don't that's right, forgot!

[lewy]

How do we know they were wearing a form of fall restraint and not just at their work position and belted in?

[copperlineman]

I've talked to two guys from Duke and a supplier who knows the crew involved. While not official, this is what I've learned.
The crew was a "training crew" comprised of a journeyman and a couple apprentices. The job was to transfer the equipment to a new pole from the old one. A sufficient pole inspection of the old pole was done and the pole seemed ok. The journeyman and one apprentice went up the old pole to do the work. Both wore a Bucksqueeze (BS). I don't know who, if anyone, went up the new pole.
When the last conductor was moved to the new pole, the old pole fell, killing the journeyman and injuring the apprentice. The pole broke off about 6" below ground level.
It seems the guys did what they were supposed to do. This was a training truck and everything that should have been done, was done. I'm not sure anyone else would have done anything differently.

But, with what we know now, the culprit seems to be "altered strain". I don't know if the pole had a reject tag on it or not, and neither did the guys I talked to. Any time we alter strain on a pole, and the pole is suspect, we should make it safe by tying it off, supporting it with pikes or a truck, or guying it. This pole was not suspect and it fell anyway.
The one thing I learned from this situation is to support any pole that we are going to alter the strain on. Evidently, our inspection procedures are not enough; Rocking it back and forth, probing with a screwdriver for rotten wood, and hitting it with a hammer to hear that "ring" of solid wood . One of these methods should have revealed this pole as unsafe and they didn't, and I'm assuming they were all done. Next time you do a pole inspection, I bet it will be very thorough.
As for the BS, a lineman cannot maneuver quickly enough on a pole to move even one step to the side, but the BS was not the cause of this accident. However, it could have been a contributor to the outcome. I'm not a fan of the BS or any type of full-time fall restraint. A climber can still fall in a BS once he learns the secrets of easier climbing, and the fall can result in some serious injuries. The BS will stop you sooner or later, and after sliding as little as 6 feet, the climber will be jerked over backwards and possibly snapped like a pretzel. The instruction video that comes with the BS shows how a guy can fall in it. It is not fool-proof. Nothing in our line of work can guarantee 100% safety. The sooner our decision makers learn that, the better off we'll be.
This is an accident we can all learn from. Current procedures were followed and we still had a fatality and serious injury. If a detail was missed, we can learn from that too.

[Rob]

Well said, Copper... And Thanks for the info.

[bobbo]

How do we know they were wearing a form of fall restraint and not just at their work position and belted in?

Duke does all the bull**** like what all big stupid power companies do? Think stupid and enforce stupid. Because no one is bigger and better. That's how they all think. That's everyone in a huge meg agglomerate utility institution thinks. It's been that way since Electricity was invented. if it was somewhere else a coop or municipal and they just bailed, maybe the guy would have a chance to break a leg or worse a back. But maybe go home to see his wife and kids. Doing what your suppose to do and following all the rules still in this day and age is not always the right thing to do! Because whatever happens the big corporate ******* with the cool logos on the side of the truck will get the lawyers to say you are always wrong! That's America! It's been that way for a long time! I just accept it now, because we lost what we were. We looked out for one another, teach each other, now it's all for myself world. And I accept that. But the skill level and ability of the lineman is 50 percent than it was 20 years ago and that I know is it true! And those guys built the trade, not Buckingham, not the government or a power company. Whatever is in the air with any current was assembled and built by a man not a company and not a government. So why do they make and enforce rules?