  
3. Accidents
The Energy Safety Service recently published its latest summary of reported accidents.
As part of the Board’s strategic goal to make all information
available the Board is continuing to reproduce the summary of
reported accidents that relate to registered electrical workers and
trainees in this and future issues of ELECTRON.
The Board wishes to advise that any conclusions related to the
accidents reported in ELECTRON are conclusions of the Energy
Safety Service.
The following reported accidents are the first in the
new series.
Accident 23 – Broken leg
A line mechanic suffered a broken leg when the concrete pole the
line mechaninc was working on fell over.
The line mechanic was belted to an isolated and earthed 11,000
volt pole while replacing a cross arm.
Although the pole was stayed from both sides, it toppled when the
conductors were released from the cross arm.
An investigation revealed that the pole may have been damaged
when it was originally installed over thirty years previously.
Accident 22 – Electric shock and burns
A trainee electrician received an electric shock while preparing to
pull a cable through a switchboard. The trainee’s right hand made
contact with a live terminal as the trainee tried to feed the cable
into the back of the live switchboard.
The trainee received a severe electric shock and a burn as a result
of the accident.
Moisture had entered a crack in the pole below the ground and
rusted the reinforcing rods allowing the pole to fail.
Accident 24 – Burns
An electrician drilled a hole to provide mounting for a replacement
contactor on a switchboard.
The electrician then inserted a screwdriver in the hole to check the
distance to the back panel of the switchboard and the screwdriver
contacted a live busbar.
The contact between the screwdriver and the busbar caused a
flashover from which the electrician received burns to the arm.
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