Electrical Supervisor Falls
Off Transformer Platform

A 47-year-old male city electrical supervisor died from head injuries when he fell 25 feet from a wooden utility platform. The man and an assistant were replacing old transformers using a bucket and digger truck. The supervisor went up in the bucket to the platform level and successfully removed the first of three transformers, using the bucket and sling to lower it. When he returned to the platform, he stepped onto a plank in the center which gave way under him, causing him to fall 25 feet to an alley, landing on his head.

The simple platform was made of eight 2” X 12” wooden planks, each about six feet long, bolted onto two 3” x 12” crossbeams between two electric poles. The planks did not have cross members or any bracing and were clearly not designed to support human weight. Furthermore, no guardrails or handrails were present around the top of the platform. The planks had obviously deteriorated from the weather. The width of the platform prevented direct access to the transformers from an aerial lift bucket. The electrical supervisor was one of 26 full-time city workers, and had worked for the city for 11 years. He had not received training in fall protection, and did not wear fall protective equipment, while working from inside or outside the bucket.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Employers of electrical workers should establish a training program, which includes job specific hazard recognition, fall protection, and safe aerial lift use procedures.

—This electrical platform had obvious signs of being a hazardous working location.

—The absence of cross members, braces, and guardrails, and visible deterioration of the wood planks should indicate that fall protection precautions were needed.

2. Employers should provide fall protection devices and ensure they are maintained / used properly.

—Even when working from the bucket of an aerial lift, workers should wear a body belt and lanyard.

3. Owners of electrical utilities should ensure their installations are maintained in a safe condition.

—This transformer platform was too wide to enable accessing the transformers from a bucket.

—The planks could have been cut shorter to gain access from an aerial bucket.