Davis Cable Technologies, L.P.: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Oct 25, 2016 (fatal): Employee is electrocuted when making contact with overhead p

At 3:16 p.m. on October 25, 2016, an employee was working from a non-insulated bucket of a truck-mounted articulating telescopic aerial lift and pulling telecommunications strand with a pulling eye mounted on the bucket in order to connect the strand to a utility pole. The employee was electrocuted after something made contact with an overhead power line. The telecommunications strand was being installed 55 inches below the neutral conductor on utility poles. While installing the strand, the employee used a chain saw to trim trees in order to pull the strand through. The truck was operated by a ground hand and the employees communicated by using a two-way voice communication system from the cab to the bucket. While traveling southbound, the employee instructed the truck driver to stop. The truck driver stopped the truck and then heard two loud bangs and saw a flash of light. The employee caught fire. The truck driver used the controls at the back of the truck to lower the lift and used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. Something had made contact with the overhead power line (14,400 volts phase to ground, 24,900 volts phase to phase). It could not be determined if the employee or the aerial lift made contact with the power line.