Tree work incident report 16KY013: electrocution near a power line, Kentucky

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. This page restates one official fatality report in our own words: case 16KY013 from the Kentucky FACE program, released May 24, 2017. It covers a line-clearance tree trimmer who was electrocuted on April 18, 2016 while cutting a limb beside a 34.5 kilovolt power line. No one is named here or in the report. The table of every report we read is in the official case library for tree work incidents.

What happened

A two-person crew from a utility vegetation contractor arrived at a rural home to clear brush and trim a box elder, 48 feet 6 inches tall, whose branches grew close to three primary lines. Both were line-clearance trimmers, trained to work inside the 10 foot minimum approach distance that the report cites. The crew's foreman was on vacation, so the trimmer who later died was acting as substitute foreperson. The other member was in his first year of climbing. The truck had no radio and only the lead trimmer carried a phone.

The report says the lead trimmer made a job site analysis and held a pre-shift briefing that named the nearby line and other hazards. He sent his crewmate to cut brush on an embankment 15 feet below the base of the tree, then climbed on a rope with a fall arrest harness, carrying an insulated pruner pole and a chain saw. At 25 feet 4 inches he began cutting a 2 inch limb growing at 75 degrees to the ground. The report concludes the limb moved into the line while he held it. At 9:38 a.m. the crewmate saw a spark and heard a noise, then saw the trimmer hanging from his rope with smoke from his clothing. The general foreman from a nearby crew climbed the tree and gave CPR for 15 to 20 minutes until emergency services arrived at 10:06 a.m. The coroner pronounced death at 10:51 a.m.

Evidence at the scene

A 15 foot 4 inch limb on the ground carried three burn marks, and both leather gloves were scorched. The report reads these as showing he held the limb as it touched the line. He wore leather work gloves, not rubber insulating gloves or sleeves, and the line had not been covered.

Factors the report lists

Rubber insulating gloves and sleeves were not worn.
The energized line was not insulated before work began.
The tree stood close to the line.
A limb was held in the minimum approach distance of an energized line.

What the report recommends

The report recommends insulating equipment, such as rubber gloves with sleeves or insulated line sleeves, whenever trimming happens inside the minimum approach distance. It recommends that a second line-clearance trimmer stand at ground level within voice distance, citing the federal standard 1910.269(r)(1)(ii) that applies when limbs inside the approach distance are removed. It also recommends that hazards found in a risk assessment be dealt with before work starts, and it adds a job hazard analysis with worker input. The wider rules on line work are in the guide to working near power lines.

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