Safe Isolation - recent case

[Stewart Newlands]

Worker knocked unconscious by shock

Date: 09/03/2009

 

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned companies about the importance of robust and well supervised systems of work when dealing with the isolation of electrical systems after a worker was knocked unconscious by an electric shock in Southend, Essex.

 

The prosecution concerned an incident at a Southend supermarket on 23 July 2006. Major refurbishment works were being carried out when the store was closed on a Sunday afternoon. A groundworks subcontractor, from Benfleet, suffered an electric shock after coming into contact with a live cable during replacement of lighting columns in the car park. The man was unconscious for a short period and suffered burns and bruising.

 

The HSE investigation found no circuit diagrams had been available and no attempt had been made by South Eastern Electrical Plc to produce a diagram by surveying each column to identify its point of supply.

 

South Eastern Electrical Plc was fined GBP50,000 and ordered to pay costs of GBP20,000 at Basildon Crown Court after being found guilty of breaching s.3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974, in failing to ensure the health and safety of affected non-employees.

 

Commenting on the case, HSE Inspector Dominic Elliss said, "The risks of working with electricity are well known and this incident could easily have been avoided. Effective identification and isolation of the electrical supply, together with clear instruction and supervision from the very beginning and throughout such work, are essential in preventing such incidents from occurring."

[Ynot]

Whilst I would recognise that the employer has a duty of care to ensure that there are proper and up to date wiring plans available to non-employees, surely a BIG chunk of responsibility HAS to lie with the guy who unfortunately found himself at the receiving end of this shock???

 

Any decent sparks should ensure that he/she KNOWS that a circuit they're working on is safe BEFORE they touch any bare copper....

Or is this my occasional naiive streak coming out again?

[themadhippy]

Any decent sparks should ensure that he/she KNOWS that a circuit they're working on is safe

Indeed,but this wasn't a sparks

groundworks subcontractor, from Benfleet, suffered an electric shock after coming into contact with a live cable during replacement of lighting columns in the car park

[Simon Lewis]

It's a sad fact that about 25 people die from injuries sustained by electric shock each year.

Just for comparison, 20 workers die each week from asbestos related disease.

Whereas we should and must ensure a safe system of work around electrical systems, I think it's fair to say that the electrical supply is - by and large - safe to use.

Pity the families who had to wait until their loved ones died before firms would even publicly admit the asbestos they produced was harmful...

 

Sorry for the thread swerve...

 

Simon

[handyandi]

Also worth considering that most utility companies have very little information of location of any services in older housing estates not surprising.

[Ynot]

Just for comparison, 20 workers die each week from asbestos related disease.

20 a WEEK??

Are you sure??

[Simon Lewis]

20 a WEEK??

Are you sure??

 

Some months back I was researching the number of reported fatalities from electric shock, and thought it might be useful to contextualise this with other industrial incidents. Asbestos happened to be the first one I checked. More die from this each week than road traffic accidents. I was truly shocked.

 

Of course if 20 people a week died on building sites, there would be uproar. 20 old, retired tradesmen who were exposed to asbestos and asbestos factory workers dying of mesothelioma, asbestos related lung cancer and asbestosis hardly registers on the news radar.

 

This HSE site has more information, and the web has plenty of stuff about the milllions that it's costing insurers in compensation claims. There have been some disgraceful moves undertaken by some firms to try and side step any responsibility, whilst still processing and selling asbestos products.

 

Simon

[Charlie Jeal]

Stewart,

 

I would hope that most, if not all BR members are well aware of the potential hazards posed by electricity. So exactly what point are you trying to make here? as the incident mentioned in your original post is nothing at all to do with this industry and as for the HSE inspectors comments well that just reinforces the image they have for simply stating the obvious.

 

Charlie

[Stewart Newlands]

My point is that on an event site under the management of H&S Regs, the owners and occupiers (event managers and promoters) probably have a duty to supply sub contractors (the Marquee company, anyone driving a pole into the ground) details of any underground services or ensure ground scanning devices are available.

 

The example shows that it was not the subcontractor who was solely responsible!

 

I.e: "Put that tent there, mate", or "lay track way from x to Y" who is the directing mind, the site planner of the contractor...

[Charlie Jeal]

Stewart,

 

It's helpful if you actually mention the point you are trying to make when you start the post rather than having to be asked about it, then further discussion can take place. You have a habit of making drive by posts and then not taking any further part in the discussion. FWIW someone in any professional event planning team will have that information available or as is more likely for outdoor events there will be no shore power available or running through the site so some sort of temporary power setup will have to be arranged. Also further to the point you make about a marquee just being stuck anywhere, I've yet to see any part of a marquee that goes far enough into the ground to actually penetrate a permanently installed electrical cable buried at the correct depth underground.

 

Charlie

[handyandi]

Stewart,

 

. Also further to the point you make about a marquee just being stuck anywhere, I've yet to see any part of a marquee that goes far enough into the ground to actually penetrate a permanently installed electrical cable buried at the correct depth underground.

 

Charlie

Perhaps Stewart you could also post this discussion on a gardening forum, as I found out during building work that the house electricity supply was well within fork depth in my flowerbed & since very few house holders will be aware of where their supply cable runs there is also quite a comparable risk there!

;)

[Andrew C]

I've yet to see any part of a marquee that goes far enough into the ground to actually penetrate a permanently installed electrical cable buried at the correct depth underground.

You've not been to my place of employment then... The phones KEEP getting clobbered by marquee companies, and the 400A supply to one of the halls was damaged by a bonfire some years back.

 

Now, I did note your "correct depth", but who the hell knows 40 years on? Our ground works guys were only inches away from that same 400A cable recently, and only a few cobbles and a cable cover down. (I spotted this one and warned them. "Oh, that's what it is is it?") ;)

 

It strikes me that this is one hazard that is practically impossible to legislate away. You just have to use your brain. Assuming of course you have one, unlikely in Ground Workers...

[KevinE]

You'd think they'd at least have a voltstick in their pocket.

[Yorkie]

I come across this sort of thing at work, not in 'the industry'. Some of the Regional Electricity Companies (REC's / DNO's) have very poor records of their services (maps tend to indicate approximate positions, and old mapping can be very unclear). The position of poles and joints is often several metres out on the mapping. As we design things, we have a responsibility to supply the contractor with information on underground services, but I'm sure that any information that we do pass on generally comes to us with a disclaimer stating that the record may not be exact. More often than not, three months passes between us receiving the information and it going to site, at which point the map is deemed out of date. Any subcontracted company should therefore in my opinion be making their own checks wherever possible, and certainly be scanning on site, and digging by hand whenever uncertain. Unfortunately instances like this are common, information for some reason does not make it to the man with the spade, and in one recent case I am aware of, nobody was injured, but 10,000 people lost electricity when a mechanical excavator struck a 132kV buried cable. As far as I am aware, no plans were physically at the site.

 

Edit: grammar

[kerry davies]

Caustic comments aside, this particular case is interesting. The ground workers could have had all the detection equipment available yet still have been hurt. The electrical contracting company had given them a plan of cables which they were contracted to cut off. The contractor's qualified electricians had isolated three out of four and believed they had isolated the fourth from the common supply. When tested the fourth was indeed "dead".

 

The problem arose when the light faded and the circuit, fed from a completely different direction, became live because of the light sensor built into the circuit. Oooer!

 

I think the point that Stewart makes is that even when you think you have done everything you can to make something safe to work on, it can still be dangerous and still be culpable/costly. And yes, outdoor events very often have similar risks, marquee companies should use a locator before pinning, etc. etc.

 

As for Charlies comment I know of one local authority who told me for years where their cables were, only to find that they were 4 metres away right under a marquee pin line. Those services also were not detected as the workers were looking for live cables. We only blew them up when we asked for power to be switched on!