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Electric Power Generation,
Distribution, and Transmission Industry |
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Alliances
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Construction. OSHA's Alliance Program. This is one of OSHA's Strategic
Management Plan Focus Areas.
eTools
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Construction. OSHA. A
Spanish version is also available. Contains information that helps workers
identify and control the hazards that cause the most serious
construction-related injuries.
OSHA Standards
Electric power generation, distribution, and transmission
hazards are addressed in specific standards for the construction industry. This section
highlights OSHA standards, the Regulatory Agenda (a list of actions being taken
with regard to OSHA standards), and directives (instructions for compliance
officers) and standard interpretations (official letters of interpretation of
the standards) related to power transmission and distribution in the
construction industry.
Frequently Cited Standards
The following standards, in order, were the most frequently cited by Federal
OSHA during October 2006 through September 2007, in Heavy Construction, Except
Highway and Street Industry Group (SIC code 162).
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1926.651,
Specific excavation requirements [related
topic page]
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1926.652,
Requirements for protective systems
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1926.21, Safety training and education
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1926.100,
Head protection
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1926.1053, Ladders
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1910.134, Respiratory protection [related
topic page]
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1926.501, Duty to have fall protection [related
topic page]
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1926.602, Material handling equipment
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1926.251, Rigging equipment for material handling
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1926.20, General safety and health provisions [related
topic page]
Other Highlighted Standards
Construction Industry (29 CFR 1926)
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1926 Subpart V, Power transmission and distribution
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1926.950, General requirements
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1926.951, Tools and protective equipment
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1926.952, Mechanical equipment
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1926.953, Material handling
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1926.954, Grounding for protection of employees
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1926.955, Overhead lines
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1926.956, Underground lines
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1926.957, Construction in energized substations
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1926.958, External load helicopters
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1926.959, Lineman's body belts, safety straps, and lanyards
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1926.960, Definitions applicable to this subpart
Regulatory Agenda
- The
OSHA Regulatory Agenda
contains an entry related to electric power transmission and distribution, and electrical
protective equipment.
Directives
Standard Interpretations
Minimum Approach Distance
Fall Protection
Other Federal Agencies
- For information on regulations of other Federal Agencies, see the general industry
Other Federal
Agencies page.
Industry Hazards
Electrocution
Crane contacts overhead power line
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Construction. OSHA. A
Spanish version is also available. Contains information that helps workers
identify and control the hazards that cause the most serious
construction-related injuries.
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Contact with power lines. Contains information for workers who may be
exposed to the risk of electrocution due to equipment contact with power
lines.
Electrocution Reports
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Electrical Safety. National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH) Safety and Health Topic. Provides links to in-house and
state based fatality investigation reports of incidents in which
electrical incidents resulted in worker deaths, NIOSH publications,
and other related web sites.
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Worker Deaths by Electrocution: A Summary of Surveillance Findings and Investigative Case Reports.
US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
Publication No. 98-131, (1998, May).
Reports the industries with the highest percentage of electrocutions were construction (40%), transportation,
communication, and public utilities (16%), and agriculture, forestry, and fishing (11%).
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Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program. National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Studies fatal
occupational injuries to prevent occupational fatalities across the nation by
identifying and investigating work situations at high risk for injury and then
formulating and disseminating prevention strategies to those who may intervene
in the workplace. It provides users with access to the full text of hundreds
of fatality investigation reports, indexes reports by program, industry and
cause of fatality.
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Apprentice Lineman Electrocuted While Setting Utility Pole, Virginia.
FACE 92-30, (1992). A 34-year-old apprentice lineman was electrocuted
while assisting a co-worker in setting a wooden utility pole.
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Electrician Electrocuted after Contacting Energized Conductor While Working from the
Bucket of an Aerial Lift Truck--Virginia. FACE 92-25, (1992). A
46-year-old electrician was electrocuted
after he contacted an energized power line while working from
the bucket of an aerial lift truck. The victim was part of a
two-man crew assigned to replace 12 fused electrical cutout
switches located on utility poles at a housing project.
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Lineman Electrocuted after Contacting 7,200-Volt Cutout Switch on Utility Pole in Tennessee.
FACE 90-26, (1990). A lineman was electrocuted
when he contacted a 7,200-volt cutout switch on a newly
installed utility pole. Just before the incident, the victim
had climbed the utility pole, installed a cutout switch, and
connected it (with a jumper cable) to a 7200-volt conductor
that had not yet been energized.
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Lineman Electrocuted When He Contacts a 7,200-volt Powerline While Installing a Guy Wire in North Carolina.
FACE 90-27, (1990). A 30-year-old
journeyman lineman was electrocuted when he contacted a
7,200-volt power line while installing a guy wire. The victim
was a member of a crew that was installing a new single-phase
7,200-volt power line parallel to, and 24 inches away from, an
existing energized single-phase 7,200-volt power line.
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Utility Company Employee Electrocuted in California While Drilling Under a Road.
FACE 85-42, (1985).
Crewmen for a gas
utility company were using an air-driven machine to drill horizontally
under a road to provide new gas line service. One worker was electrocuted
and a second was injured when the drill contacted a 4,160-volt power line.
- US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
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Request for Assistance in Preventing Electrocutions of Crane Operators and
Crew Members Working Near Overhead Power Lines. Publication No. 95-108,
(1995, May). Describes five cases (six
electrocutions) that resulted from the hazards of operating
cranes near overhead power lines and makes recommendations for
preventing similar incidents.
- Request for Assistance in Preventing Electrocutions During Work with Scaffolds
Near Overhead Power Lines. Publication No. 91-110, (1991, August).
Describes 13 deaths that occurred
in six separate incidents when workers erected or moved
scaffolds that came into contact with energized, overhead
power lines, or when they contacted overhead power lines while
using conductive tools or materials from scaffolds.
- Request for Assistance in Preventing Electrocutions of Workers Using Portable
Metal Ladders Near Overhead Power Lines. Publication No. 89-110,
(1989, July). Describes six deaths that
occurred because portable aluminum ladders, which conduct
electrical current, came in contact with energized overhead
power lines. The lack of compliance with existing regulations
in the five incidents described suggests that many employers and
workers may be (1) working unaware of these OSHA regulations, (2)
misinterpreting the requirements of the regulations, or (3) failing to
inform their workers about the dangers of using metal ladders around
overhead power lines.
- Request for Assistance in Preventing Fatalities of Workers Who Contact
Electrical Energy. Publication No. 87-103, (1986, December). Prompt emergency medical care can be lifesaving for workers who
have contacted either low voltage or high voltage electric energy. Immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
within approximately 4 minutes followed by advanced
cardiac life support (ACLS) within approximately 8 minutes has been shown to save lives.
- Request for Assistance in Preventing Electrocutions from Contact Between
Cranes and Power Lines. Publication No. 85-111, (1985, July).
Presents information on five cases which resulted
in six fatal injuries involving crane-related electrocutions.
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For additional information, see OSHA's Safety and Health Topics Pages
on:
Falls
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Worker Deaths by Falls:
A Summary of Surveillance Findings and Investigative Case Reports.
US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Publication
No. 2000-116, (2000, September). Also available as a 2 MB
PDF,
334 pages. Reports that falls from
elevations were the fourth leading cause of occupational
fatalities from 1980 through 1994. The 8,102 deaths due to
falls from elevations accounted for 10 percent of all
fatalities and an average of 540 deaths per year. Between 1982
and 1997, NIOSH investigated 90 falls incidents that resulted
in 91 fatalities.
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Maintenance Technician Drowns After Falling From a Turbine Support-Ring Platform at a
Hydroelectric Power Generation Facility in South Carolina. National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fatality Assessment
and Control Evaluation (FACE) 9116, (1991).
Two technicians left the basket to inspect the welds. Neither was wearing
a buoyancy (life) vest, even though life vests were available at the site
and the company required their use.
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Electrical Lineman Dies After Falling 35 Feet to the Ground from a Burning Aerial
Bucket in South Carolina. National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH) Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) 9035, (1990). Standard employer practice required
the use of common hydraulic hoses (without metal reinforcement) on any
area of the boom or aerial bucket that might be placed near energized
power lines. The mechanic told investigators that he knew he was
installing the wrong type of hose, but did not understand the potential
hazards involved. When the hose ruptured while the lineman was using the
impact wrench, the spraying hydraulic fluid contacted the hot metal and
ignited.
- For additional information, see OSHA's Safety and Health Topics Page
on:
Confined
Spaces
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Worker Deaths in Confined Spaces: A Summary of NIOSH Surveillance and Investigative Findings.
US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Publication No. 94-103, (1994,
January). Also available as a 10 MB
PDF,
282 pages. From December 1983 through September 1993, the
deaths of 480 workers in 423 incidents were investigated.
Seventy of these investigations involved confined spaces where
109 persons died. In 25 of the confined-space incidents, there
were multiple fatalities, including those deaths which
involved persons attempting rescue.
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For additional information, see OSHA's Safety and Health Topics Page on:
Hazards for Other Workers
Cable Installers
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Wireless Cable TV Service Installer Electrocuted by Overhead Power Line.
National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fatality
Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE)
Investigations of Fatal Electrical Incidents Report 96MO059. An
installer of a wireless cable TV service was electrocuted when
the antenna mast he was raising/installing came into contact
with a 7,200-volt overhead power line.
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Cable Television Installer Electrocuted When Cable Wire Contacts 7,200-Volt Power Line.
National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fatality
Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Investigations of Fatal Electrical Incidents Report 98MO042. A
cable television (CATV) installer was electrocuted when the
cable wire he was holding contacted a 7,200-volt power line.
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Fiber Optic Cable Installers Electrocuted. National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fatality
Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE), Nebraska FACE
Investigation 98025. A 41-year-old journeyman
lineman, a 38-year-old journeyman lineman, and a 24-year-old, all
working as cable installers in aerial line construction, were
killed when a guy wire contacted an 8,000-volt above-ground power
line.
Construction Workers
![Crane contacts overhead powerline Crane contacts overhead power line](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20080922202726im_/http://osha.gov/SLTC/etools/construction/images/1_cranefire.jpg)
Crane contacts overhead power line
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Construction: Contact with power lines.
OSHA. Contains information for
construction workers who may be exposed to the risk of
electrocution due to equipment contact with power lines.
- Electrocution Resulting from Crane Cable Contact with Power Line.
National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fatality
Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Investigations of Fatal Electrical Incidents Report 82-03.
This report is based on an investigation of a single occupational electrocution resulting from a crane's cable coming in contact with a 7,200-volt power line.
Other
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TV Tower Installers Electrocuted. National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fatality
Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE), Indiana State Department
of Health Indiana FACE Report. A 51-year-old worker (the
decedent), a co-worker, and the employer were installing a TV
tower at the side of a building housing the employer's business.
As the workers were trying to stabilize the TV tower into the
pre-dug hole, it fell and contacted one phase of a three phase
7200-volt overhead power line. The electrical current traveled
from phase to ground, killing one worker and giving the co-worker a
severe electrical shock.
Safety References
Fall Protection
Additional Information
Related Safety and Health Topics Pages
Training
Other Resources
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