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  1. #1
    dbrown20 Guest

    Default Accidents I have known.

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    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.
    Last edited by dbrown20; 05-18-2007 at 06:06 PM. Reason: cause. Tracy, Tracey, better break out that wet towsack.

  2. #2
    77liner Guest

    Default Dangerous

    Im not sure how you can figure that line work is not dangerous.
    How many engineers do you know that have been killed or lost a limb while working in the electrical industry.
    An old foreman told me when I was just a pup breaking in to the trade, electicity is something you dont want to be afraid of but you must have the ultimate respect of it. Its like messing with a time bomb forget what your doing or dont keep your head cut in you kill yourself or your pole partner!
    Words I try to live by today
    Last edited by 77liner; 05-20-2007 at 12:29 AM. Reason: typo

  3. Lightbulb wow

    Quote Originally Posted by dbrown20 View Post
    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.
    WOW. Do you sleep well at night mate. It would be interesting to know how many accidents and fatalities you guys have in the U.S compared to what we have in Australia. Obviously you would have higher number due to your huge population. Would be interesting

  4. #4

    Exclamation Watch each others ass

    dbrown Quote; However on the jumper I do agree with some folks that prefer the air gap instead of tying it in on a pin and insulator. I was always taught that a belly jumper was best. Done it both ways though. Some people say a hand might climb up and stick his head into a belly jumper. If he's that dumb he'll probably do something else to get into trouble.


    In another thread we talked about a jumper below the cross arms. Cross arm braces, #12 through #15. I also got my ass chewed for talking shit about the jumper under the arm. I guess lazy was too strong of a word. I should have said that a Lineman who has worked all night, had a bad day, his pole partner or safety watch was just not paying attention, or just plane had his head up his ass, could climb into it. The Lineman who taught me as an apprentice said it’s a bad practice to do that, because someone could climb or stick his head in it.
    We also talked about building poles with the next guy in mind. We have Journeymen in this trade who take short cuts all the time, and have unsafe work habits. And they pass them onto there apprentices. Like no cover, no rubber gloves you name it, it’s been done. It’s like a cancer that spreads through the trade. Some learn, some are just an accident waiting to happen. It’s up to us to help these, as you say “dumb” linemen to see the light. But if I’m not there to help him now I might save his life by not putting the jumper under the arm, or providing climbing space, etc. Who knows what the next guy will be like?

  5. #5
    dbrown20 Guest

    Default Pa Ben.

    To my way of thinking it is hard to provide for all possibilities. As far as belly jumper it is just another thing that is a standard practice for some entities. To be aware of such a thing is just one more thing you have to think of, just like remembering that the line is hot etc.

    I have never worked for one but I notice that belly jumpers seem to be standard with REC's. I'm sure all their hands keep that little awareness in their mind at all times.

    I think I have seen a few hands on here that remarked about paralled systems. I worked on a property where such a method was a standard thing. It was just something you had to keep in mind at all times and you knew when you opened a transformer that you must check to make sure it was not backfeeding. Most of the accidents I mentioned in my previous post could have been prevented by just wearing your rubber gloves.

    I don't know but I think some people are just not cut out for hot work. I think some of the safety rules that come out are made to protect such folks. I remember once about a hand that I knew that had transferred from a transmission crew and after he had been gone from transmission about a year some of the guys were laughing, because he had gotten in series with a line and the ground while removing grounds on a distribution line. I don't know how you protect against such absent minded people.

    I remember once while working on a transmission maint. crew that the local crews had built a portion of 34.5 KV that ran parallel to a 230 KV line. THey did not ground the line and the local serviceman thought he would give them a hand tying it in. We heard them on the radio after he climbed up and touched the new wire. It had a severe induction energization on it and he was shocked so bad he fell from the arm all the way to the system neutral. Had his safety around the pole so he was not severely hurt but he had slight burns on his hands as he just had on leather gloves. How do you guard against such folks? You just make your safety rules more and more stringent, is the usual answer. THen you are saddled with cumbersome and sometimes un-necessary rules that many people tend to ignore when the boss is not around. dbrown20

  6. #6
    dbrown20 Guest

    Default Engineers?

    Quote Originally Posted by 77liner View Post
    Im not sure how you can figure that line work is not dangerous.
    How many engineers do you know that have been killed or lost a limb while working in the electrical industry.
    An old foreman told me when I was just a pup breaking in to the trade, electicity is something you dont want to be afraid of but you must have the ultimate respect of it. Its like messing with a time bomb forget what your doing or dont keep your head cut in you kill yourself or your pole partner!
    Words I try to live by today
    I know some that have sustained some pretty damn bad paper cuts. I knew one who had a couple of fingers burned off but come to think of it he was an ex-lineman. dbrown20

  7. #7

    Question How do you

    My comments are just from another school of thought.
    “How do you guard against such folks?” Tailboard, when the new hand came on the job site to help the work should have stopped and a job briefing given to him. “The phase is not grounded”. And have him sign the tailboard sheet to cover your ass. It’s a safety rule. You are right people tend to look at some rules as un-necessary. But our rules are written in blood, a good reason to follow them. Also we need to watch out for each other.
    Remember that’s hot, remember that’s not grounded, hey look out for that shell rot at the natural, do you want to cover that etc; and as a lineman I say “thank you”, because I know that my crew is looking out for me. No, room for mucho ego Bullshit, like “hey dumb ass I know”. Another way is Retraining. The safety rules require it, if an employee is not up to speed with the type of work asked to do. No, ego’s just looking out for each other. The list can go on and on. It all boils down to, is watching each others ass.

  8. #8
    dbrown20 Guest

    Default Pride or Ego.

    Those are probably some of the biggest problems in our trade that contribute to a significant amount of accidents.

    I have seen men, who when warned about a potential hazard that reply. What do you think I am, a dumb apprentice? This causes the following.

    "Did anyone warn Jim about the fact that the line isn't grounded?" "Hell no." He's the foreman. The last time I tried to tell him something, the SOB got smart with me. Let him look out for himself." I have seen several instances such as this and I think it is bad but I can't think of a way to remedy it. I worked on a crew like that once. All you can do is try and get away from them. Look out for number one.

    If you ever get on a crew that is safe and consciencious and there's no other big issue like pay or conditions, then try and stay there if all is satisfactory.

    In a perfect world all hands would get along, be happy and be safe. It is not always so. dbrown20

  9. #9

    Unhappy Sad but true

    Quote Originally Posted by dbrown20 View Post
    Those are probably some of the biggest problems in our trade that contribute to a significant amount of accidents.

    I have seen men, who when warned about a potential hazard that reply. What do you think I am, a dumb apprentice? This causes the following.

    "Did anyone warn Jim about the fact that the line isn't grounded?" "Hell no." He's the foreman. The last time I tried to tell him something, the SOB got smart with me. Let him look out for himself." I have seen several instances such as this and I think it is bad but I can't think of a way to remedy it. I worked on a crew like that once. All you can do is try and get away from them. Look out for number one.

    If you ever get on a crew that is safe and consciencious and there's no other big issue like pay or conditions, then try and stay there if all is satisfactory.

    In a perfect world all hands would get along, be happy and be safe. It is not always so. dbrown20
    Do what you can do and watch out for #1. Good advice. Warn him anyway that way if he does get killed it's not because you didn't warn him.

  10. #10
    dbrown20 Guest

    Default boyakasha

    Featured Sponsorr

    I'm sure the statistics are there if someone would go to the trouble to find them. However if you don't adjust them to reflect per captia then they don't mean very much. There are several factors that come into play on things such as this. Per captia, number of hours worked and maybe number of hours worked on hot circuits vs de-energized work. It becomes quite a little project for the math people. Americans love statistics though. Ever time you pick up a magazine or newspaper there is always something. Sorta funny if you think of it. They conjure up all sorts of stuff. Percentage of virgins by age 16. Percentage of divorces. Percentage of people over age 50. Percentage of people making over X amount of annual income. Percentage of certain races. Percentage of college grads. Percentage of HS grads. Percentage of HS drop outs. Percentage of minorities in management. Percentage of certain professions. Really quite mind numbing. dbrown20

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