Selected Electrical Incidents and Occurrences

First Quarter - January to March, 2005

Date & Program Location Accident Description

MIS ID #

Special Notice:

February 1^st Construction Sault Ste. Marie Two electricians accidentally discovered that a circuit

1071362 was live. The circuit had been locked out, someone

removed the lock and tag. No-one injured, circuit was

re-locked.

Fatalities:

There were no fatalities of an electrical nature reported to the Ministry for the first quarter of 2005.

Critical Injuries:

January 10^th Industrial Windsor Electrician was changing a backup battery in a panel, metal

1069965 frame of eyeglasses contacted a power source. Worker

received a shock, briefly lost consciousness, suffered minor

facial burns.

Non-Critical Injuries:

January 17^th Industrial Waterloo Worker received shock from 600 V source while working on a

1063800 machine. Received minor burns to left hand.

January 19^th Industrial Sarnia Worker received shock from microphone, taken to hospital

1070504 then released. A small fire had broken out at an electrical

panel just before the worker received the shock.

January 20^th Industrial Thunder Bay Electrician received a shock while opening up a 600 V panel.

1070520 Current path was hand-to-hand across the chest. Worker taken

to hospital then released.

January 28^th Industrial London Worker received an electrical shock when changing a light

1063029 bulb. Kept at hospital for observation.

February 4^th Industrial Hamilton Worker was sweeping floor next to panel. Made electrical

1060536 contact, received 1^st to 3^rd degree burns from knee to ankle.

No information given on how worker managed to make

contact with live parts inside panel.

February 8^th Mining Sudbury Workers were racking in a 600 V breaker, fault occurred.

1063635 One electrician received minor burns to left wrist and face.

February 11^th Construction Toronto Worker doing work on electrical panel, received a shock and

1061063 burns to left hand. Taken to hospital for treatment.

February 17^th Industrial London Worker was doing routine check of electrical equipment.

1070508 Guard fell off, worker received 347 V shock. Worker taken to

hospital.

February 18^th Construction Pickering Electrician installing new fibre boards under existing cable

1072101 pans. Received shock when right elbow contacted damaged

energized cable. Worker taken to hospital and released.

February 21^st Industrial Marathon Worker was flipping on lights at the breaker panel, breaker

1072147 shorted to ground giving a loud bang. Worker has ringing in

and tingling in arm on same side. Taken to hospital for

observations.

March 9^th Industrial Hearst Worker went to turn off lights, switch did not have a

1071288 coverplate. Keys in hand touched wires, worker received

burns to fingers of one hand.

March 15^th Industrial Toronto Worker dispensing solvent through hose into tank. Vapours

1026278 ignited, probably due to static electricity. Worker received

burns to face.

March 15^th Industrial Bowmanville Worker received burns to hands and eyes, taken to hospital.

1072588 Control panel contained wires energized at 4160 V, no details

given of how worker was injured.

March 18^th Industrial Scarborough Worker repairing electrical test equipment, received a 500V

1072597 shock. Suffered blisters to both hands, taken to hospital.

March 24^th Industrial Mississauga Worker doing repair work on machine, touched wires,

1073796 received electrical shock. No other details given.

Powerline Contacts – No Injuries:

January 6^th Construction Woodbridge Event classified as powerline contact, no other details given.

1061629

January 13^th Construction Wiarton Contact made with powerline, no other details given.

1070258

January 24^th Construction Wawa Backhoe contacted overhead powerline.

1070683

February 4^th Construction Barrie Workers excavating a duct bank, made electrical contact.

1063605 Locates had been done.

February 10^th Construction Municipality Contact made with neutral of overhead line. Type of

1061261 not given equipment involved not given.

February 11^th Construction Mississauga Communications cable cut, no other details given.

1071877

February 12^th Construction Markham Workers were digging, hit a buried 16 kV line.

1070673 Locates had been done.

February 14^th Construction Hamilton Electrical contact reported to Ministry.

1060805 No other details given.

February 16^th Construction Barrie Workers doing drilling, contacted a buried cable.

1070257

February 18^th Construction Thornhill Tree trimming, branches fell on 16 kV powerline.

1071054

February 23^rd Construction Municipality Powerline contact, no other details given.

1061507 not given

February 25^th Construction London Boom raised, contacted 16 kV powerline.

1063322

March 1^st Construction Dunnville Contractor made contact with energized conductor, no

1061995 other details given.

March 1^st Construction Tilbury Workers doing conversion of old transformer system.

1071432 Minor arc occurred, no details given as to what caused the arc.

March 9^th Construction Ottawa Buried cable dug up, no other details given.

1062235

March 9^th Mining Sudbury Craneman was lifting a load out of an electrolytic tank, saw

1070632 sparking. Section of tank had not been de-energized before

lift was made, direct contact made between anodes and

cathodes.

March 10^th Construction Cayuga Event description said ‘electrical contact’, no other details

1066249 given.

March 16^th Construction Brampton Primary cable cut, no other details given.

1028767

March 16^th Construction Toronto Worker using BOBCAT to remove debris, contacted 208V

1070436 cable.

March 16^th Construction Southampton Crew using aerial device to replace de-energized conductor.

1073183 Knuckle on boom touched the temporary 2400 V line.

March 17^th Construction Ajax REVENGE OF THE POWER CABLES. Dumptruck box in

1072596 air as truck was moved, box hooked the power and telephone

lines. This time, the dumptruck wound up on its side. Power

was still kicked off though.

March 23^rd Construction Ottawa Streetlight cable dug up. Locates had been done.

1062490

March 23^rd Construction Embrun Dumptruck hit powerline.

1062608

March 29^th Industrial Thunder Bay Worker was using a long pole, contacted an overhead wire.

1052062 Power kicked off, no injuries reported for worker.

March 30^th Construction Toronto Forklift cut the power line, also dropped skid of waterproofing

1071077 onto a car.

DATA SUMMARY - First quarter of different years:

Fatals: Criticals: Non-criticals: Powerline Electrical

Contacts: Equipment:

2005 0 1 15 25 0

2004 1 6 25 19 0

2003 0 5 14 22 0

2002 0 5 18 8 0

2001 1 7 21 11 1

2000 1 12 10 16 3

1999 1 7 16 13 1

1998 1 9 7 9 0

And Finally…..

Many events came close, including the one where a worker called from his hospital, asking about the legislated requirements for wearing fall arrest, but none were sufficiently off-the-wall to be included here.

Information taken from Ministry of Labour MIS database

Report prepared: July 29, 2005

Assembled by: Michael Reiser

Engineer

PSS – Kitchener District

Phone: (519) 883-5682

FAX: (519) 883-5694

E-Mail: mike.reiser@mol.gov.on.ca