Author -

Cleveland Fatality

On April 4, 2002 a three-man crew from Cleveland Underground had a job to hot phase in a manhole which was located at Superior and Euclid. Three new primary cables had been pulled in previously between two manholes with the splicing completed in one of them. The breaker for H-1-Ingall-L was removed earlier and tagged yellow, the isolater was in the closed position and the oil switch on the other side of the manhole was also opened and tagged yellow. The crew arrived at Superior and Euclid, set up at the job site, held their job briefing, and prepared the cables and the manhole for the hot phasing. Their Supervisor arrived on the job at around 0915. This time was given by one of the crew. At Ingall Substation, a switchman was standing by and a two man Underground Trouble crew was standing by at the open oil switch, about 50 feet from the manhole where the hot phasing was to be done. At 0929 the Supervisor released his clearance to hot phase and at 0933 NRDO informs the switchman at Ingall Sub to do steps 2-6 and call. At 0948 the switchman calls NRDO and informs them he is having difficulty racking the breaker, which for him was step 3. The switchman also calls his Supervisor concerning his problem with racking the breaker and due to the fact he was tied up at another location he refers the switchman to one of his co-workers who was at Almar Substation. The individual at Almar Substation was one of the old Station Operators. Realizing there are crews standing by to hot phase he attempts to walk the switchman at Ingall through his problem over the phone. Having no success on the phone, he packs up and heads for Ingall Substation along with the person that was working with him. During this time the Person in Charge calls NRDO at 0952 and checks on the status of the switching and is informed about the problem with the breaker, he decides to stand by. At about 1030 the individual who was at Almar arrives at Ingall Substation. The problem with the breaker interlock is discovered. The three people now at Ingall discuss the steps left on the switching orders and continue switching to complete steps 2-6 as ordered by NRDO. At 1032, the person in charge calls NRDO to check on the status of the breaker. At 1034, NRDO calls the person in charge and informs him the breaker will not be ready for at least one hour. At this point the person in charge decides to have his operating condition re-established. The reason given for this was that the traffic conditions were getting bad, Police were there for traffic control. At 1036 the operating condition is granted to the person in charge, he instructs the crew to clean out the manhole, wrap, and bag the conductor ends and leaves. One of the crew enters the manhole and starts to hand out tools and material. At 1041 the breaker at Ingall Substation is closed. While in the process of removing the six lengths of rubber line hose he was electrocuted. No one called the station and told them to stop their switching. At 1044 NRDO is horn alerted from the underground crew. Another individual of the crew goes into the manhole while the cables are energized and attempts a rescue. East Cleveland Fire Department arrives, sets up their equipment, tells the man in the hole to climb out, a Fireman enters the manhole with the cables still energized and together they get the injured man out of the manhole. He was then transported to the hospital. The breaker at Ingall is opened at 1051. The Company at a meeting held at the Twenty-Fourth Street garage on April 10, 2002 and the individuals involved that day gave out the times used in this report. The rest of the information was compiled through interviews with the individuals involved.