A 32 year old truck driver was electrocuted when he raised the bed of the dump truck he was operating, contacting a 12 kilovolt (kV) energized power line. The truck was a 60,000 pound self propelled hydraulic trailer. The worker was attempting to deliver ten loads of lime to a farm supply company. The company for which he worked was small, with no written safety program, relying heavily on the common sense of employees. Part of the lime storage pile had spread under three 12kV power lines running perpendicular to the road in front of the farm supply company. The driver was delivering his second load, having dumped the first load with the truck at about a 45 degree angle to the road. He was standing on the opposite side of the trailer from the power line, with the truck parallel to the line, operating the lever which controlled the bed of the dump truck. The aluminum stop on the bed contacted the power line, electrocuting the worker. The line broke and remained in contact with the truck bed for about 30 minutes before it was deenergized. Farm supply employees attempted unsuccessfully to separate the driver from the truck using broom handles. The victim had a history of accidents and driving while intoxicated. It is recommended that either the storage area for the lime or the power lines themselves be moved to eliminate the hazard, and that the employer begin a safety program which addresses hazards associated with dump truck operations.
Fatal Accident Circumstances and Epidemiology (FACE) Report: Truck Driver Electrocuted in North Carolina, April 14, 1987
1987
6 pages
Report
No indication
English
Public Health & Industrial Medicine , Environmental & Occupational Factors , Industrial Safety Engineering , Environmental Health & Safety , Accident investigations , Electrical hazards , Safety engineering , Accident prevention , Truck drivers , Occupational safety and health , FACE-87-54 , Electric power transmission lines