The employer in this case was a large municipal power company with employees. The company has written safety policies and procedures but there is no designated safety officer. The responsibility for safety compliance rests with area managers.
The victim was an automatic switchman involved in maintenance and troubleshooting work. On the day of the incident the victim and his supervisor were engaged in routine maintenance on an electrical distribution system.
A period of extended high temperatures in the weeks preceding this incident had resulted in high demands for electrical power for residential air conditioning units.
The victim had checked three similar units from a bucket truck the week prior to the incident. Because of the location of this pole it was impossible to gain access to the transformer by a bucket truck. The transformer was located 26 feet above the ground, and 3 feet above a cable television line.
The victim could not climb to the transformer with the safety strap around the pole because of this television line. Accordingly, he climbed up the pole with his safety strap over his left shoulder a standard practice for lineman with the intention of securing the strap around the pole after he was above the cable. The supervisor, standing on the ground below, observed the victim in contact with the energized line.
As the victim struggled to pull away from this line he fell backwards, falling and striking the ground head first. The supervisor, who was trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation CPR , immediately summoned help on his two-way radio and began CPR on the victim. Emergency medical personnel responded in approximately 5 minutes. Neither the supervisor nor the responding emergency medical personnel were able to detect any vital signs following the incident. The victim was transferred to a local medical center where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
How many linemen die annually? How do linemen die? What is the average age of a lineman? Do linemen make good money? Are lineman in high demand? Is lineman a dangerous job? Is lineman a hard job? Where do lineman get paid the most? Do you get paid during lineman school?
How much does a helicopter lineman make? How many hours a week do linemen work? What does a helicopter lineman do? How long does it take to complete lineman school? How much do Groundman make?
How much does a beginner lineman make? Do linemen get vacations? Do you need a CDL to become a lineman? How much does a Groundman make an hour? How much does a Class C lineman make? There are approximately 21 lineman deaths per , workers. This puts electrical power line installers and repairers at 9 on the top 10 workplace fatality rate list, right behind farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural workers.
Utility companies are giant entities with no competition in most areas of the country. Unfortunately, this means that these organizations are far too concerned about their bottom line at the expense of the safety of the workers they employ.
If you or someone close to you was injured or killed working as a power lineman, it is very important to speak with an experienced linemen injuries and death attorney, so you fully understand your legal rights and options.
Utility companies have vast resources, and they can afford to retain armies of lawyers whose job is to mitigate their losses from incidents such as lineman deaths. This is why you need a strong advocate in your corner with the proven ability to recover maximum compensation — even in highly complex cases like these. As we touched on earlier, climbing to the top of a utility line to perform electrical work is a risky job even under the best of circumstances.
Utility companies do not help matters when they choose to put profits over people. Here are just a few ways these companies cut corners to try to save a few dollars:.
The root cause of most of the problems that lead to power linemen deaths is failure to hire an adequate number of utility workers to perform the work safely. Companies tend to do this so they can keep their benefits costs to a minimum. They are willing to pay overtime to workers when needed, because they still believe they can save money this way.
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