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From the 9th, November 2003 New York Daily News:

By JONATHAN LEMIRE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A 25-year-old electrician was clinging to life yesterday after a power surge in an electrical closet at NYU Medical Center left him with severe burns over his entire body, police said.

Sean Lally, who was listed in critical condition at the burn unit at Weill Cornell Medical Center, was injured just hours after three construction workers were badly shocked - one fatally - in a crane accident in Queens.

Lally and his co-worker, Marian Brodansky, of Manhattan-based EGG Electric Inc. were working in the closet in the hospital's underground magnetic resonance imaging suite at 530 First Ave. when there was a surge in power, said NYU Medical Center spokeswoman Lynn Odell.

Lally, of Queens Village, received second- and third-degree burns over most of his body, and Brodansky burned his hands as he rushed to his co-worker's aid. He was treated at NYU Medical Center and released, Odell said.

A representative of EGG refused to respond to a reporter's questions about the incident.

Hours before the accident, three workers from American Piles Inc., were jolted when the chain they were using to maneuver a construction crane got too close to a 13,000-volt power line on Beach Channel Drive in Edgemere, police said. Anthony Nelson, 42, of Monroe St. in Brooklyn, who was standing in a puddle, was electrocuted.

Thomas Tierney, 35, of Avenue N in Brooklyn was holding the chain and received burns over most of his body. He was in stable condition at Peninsula Hospital yesterday. A third worker had minor injuries.

Originally published on November 9, 2003

Original article at: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/135107p-120371c.html

[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 11-11-2003).]

Sven,
With regards to the first story,
It sounds to me, more like an Arc Flash incident, rather than a Power Surge.
The reason I say that is because most Hospital systems have a very closely monitored power system and the MRI system that they were working on can generate up to 45kV as part of the Magnetic component required to run the system.

It does sound like an arc-flash incident.

Even if the reporter understood the difference, the newspaper probably thought that "power surge" would be understood more easily by the majority of its readers.