Author - Cynthia Phinney
Submitted By -Fatality On Storm Work
On December 12, 1999, IBEW Local 1837 lost a brother when he was electrocuted while restoring power after a windstorm. Brother Brent Churchill, an employee of CMP (Central Maine Power) was restoring power in his home town of Industry, Maine, when he contacted a 7200 volt line. Churchill, who was accompanied at the time of the accident by a co-worker from the meter department, had failed to put on his rubber gloves before climbing the 30 foot pole, and had also failed to open the cutout. Churchill had been the troubleman on duty beginning three days prior to the windstorm, and at the time of his accident had been working for 28 hours without rest. In the preceding 54 hours, he had had only two short periods of interrupted sleep.
Several weeks before the accident, lineworkers had held two special company -wide union meetings to discuss issues, which are arising as the company readies for deregulated competition. Among those issues were concerns about workers cutting safety corners because of increased pressure to get work done faster with less workers, as well as concern about the company's increasing tendency to ask lineworkers to perform tasks without being partnered with another trained lineworker. They had begun the formal process of initiating a change in the company safety policies that would place some limits on what kinds of work the lineworkers could be asked to perform alone.
Following an internal review by a committee consisting of two union lineworkers and three people from company management, CMP put out a press release emphasizing the safety errors Churchill committed and almost completely downplaying the hours Churchill had worked and the fact that he was not accompanied by a qualified lineworker, both of which lineworkers and other union members feel were significant factors contributing to Churchill's failure of judgment at the accident scene. Lineworkers have responded by calling the attention of the media to the incomplete reporting in an effort to see that the contributing factors are addressed and the death is not just chalked up as one unsafe worker. Interested parties can view the official CMP press release at www.cmpco.com, and can view one of the later follow-up articles from one of the newspapers in the backissues section at www.sunjournal.com.
Respectfully submitted by Cynthia Phinney, IBEW Local 1837 staff, at the request of one of our member lineworkers.