Author -

Description of a fatality

Here is a description of a fatality that happened earlier this year in Mississippi. A Utility man was called out on a trouble call of "no power" at a local water park. After arriving at the address it was apparent that the tap that fed the park was out. The Utilitiy man drove around to the cut out that feed the park and saw that it was open. He also saw that a tree had fallen on the single phase tap and burnt it down about 200 yards into a clear cut. The tree was laying on the neutral and the primary was on the ground. He radioed another Utility man that had arrived at the park, and told him what he found and that he would begin clearing the line. As he was in a pick-up, he didn't ground the phase or lift the stinger. The other Utility man made his way around to the cut out in the bucket truck. He radioed the first Utiliy man twice during the trip, but didn't get an answer. When the second Utility man arrived at the cut out he saw a fire in the clear cut and the phase on the ground. He called for his partner but did not get an answer. Seeing the cut out door open he positioned his bucket truck to go up and lift the stinger to de-energize the line. Once he had lifted the stinger he saw the Utiltiy man in the brush. The pole that he cut out  on was a corner pole with 3 phases turning 90 degrees and a single phase going straight through. The phase going threw fed the water park. The three phase that turned all went threw solid blade cut outs, so the he phases could be isolated in the event of an outage. The single phase went through a fused cut out that hung so that the phase could be fed from the load side of the solid blades. No one knows why, but for some reason the fused cut out was rearranged so that it fed off of the line side of the solid blades. The "T" bracket was left in the same quarter of the pole and the stinger on the top of the cut out was run under the dead end bells and around the back of the pole to a stirrup on the line side of the solid blades. When the phase burnt, the bells fell on the the stinger. When the Utilitiy man began to clear the phase on the ground, the dead end shoe made contact with the stinger. The recloser operated twice, but stayed closed on the second operation. The 7200 burnt him into the ground, it was not a pretty sight. It was estimated that it burned on him for 5 to 10 minutes. When he fell, the phase laid across his chest, and what line he had cleared was coiled under him. The Utility man that was killed had 30+ years experience. He did not have his rubber gloves on. It is speculated that he saw the open cut out and began to clear the phase thinking that it was dead. It was a hard lesson for the young guys. The line had to be picked up power restored. No time for sorrow. Remember, it ain't dead till it's grounded and always take a second look.