Selected Electrical Incidents and Occurrences
First Quarter - January to March, 2006
Date & Program Location Accident Description
MIS ID #
Fatalities:
January 18th Construction Hamilton Worker doing work with cables at base of 600 V MCC.
1089256 Cover door to transformer section of MCC was open.
Worker’s head contacted exposed tap connectors on
transformer winding, worker electrocuted.
Critical Injuries:
January 29th Industrial Toronto Vandals had ripped an elevator control panel off the wall in
1089326 the building lobby. As a security guard attempted to replace
the panel in the wall, he received a 135 VDC electrical shock.
Worker was thrown about 15 feet and lost consciousness.
February 9th Industrial Toronto Worker received a shock while using a hand-held grinder.
1090149 Worker felt nauseous, continued to vomit, eventually taken to
hospital. Treated for dehydration and fainting.
February 10th Construction Mississauga 2-man crew were doing electrical work when an arc occurred.
1089542 Workers were feeding a cable into a panel when it contacted
600 volts. Arc happened; workers received 2nd and 3rd degree
burns to hands and arms.
February 20th Industrial Port Colborne Worker working on substation transformer, flash occurred.
1090349 Worker received 3rd degree burns to chest, hands and neck.
No information given on work being done at the time.
February 21st Industrial Brampton Two workers were checking a panel using a tester, panel blew
1090432 up. One worker had burns to face and arms, other worker just
had burns to the face. Workers were testing fuses at the time.
Non-Critical Injuries:
January 4th Construction Toronto Worker made contact with energized conductor. Worker was
1086524 on a ladder at the time, fell off ladder.
January 5th Industrial Woodbridge Worker received an electrical shock while disconnecting the
1088815 electrical plug for the heater on the extruder tube. Worker felt
tingling in arm, taken to hospital.
January 11th Industrial Hamilton Worker received an electrical shock after making contact with
1088666 two machines at the same time.
January 16th Construction St. Catharines Worker made contact while testing a power supply to
1089025 determine the path of the electricity. Worker received cuts to
his fingers, did not seek medical attention.
January 17th Construction London Worker installing new line into panel, panel blew up. Worker
1089162 received burns on right arm.
January 18th Industrial Ottawa Worker touched energized wire while on a ladder. Worker
1087419 received a shock, fell off ladder.
January 20th Industrial Ingersoll Worker in repair spur area touched a 270 V electrically
1089109 charged carrier. Taken to hospital by ambulance.
January 22nd Industrial Chatham Worker received an electrical shock from a receptacle while
1089111 plugging in a scooter. Worker felt tingling from the current.
January 26th Construction Nanticoke Worker received a shock while changing a light bulb.
1089622 Worker sent to hospital as a precaution.
February 1st Industrial Oakville Worker was using a screwdriver on a 600 V panel.
1090116 Worker received a shock, taken to hospital.
February 1st Construction Niagara Falls Worker doing work on 600 V line, flash occurred. Worker
1090268 received 2nd degree burns to lower part of face. No details
given of work being done at the time.
February 2nd Construction Pickering Worker thought boatswain’s chair was unplugged, began to
1087748 disconnect cable from chair. Worker received an electrical
shock on his hand.
February 7th Construction Toronto Worker received an electrical shock, taken to hospital then
1088101 released. No other details of event given.
February 8th Industrial Thunder Bay A kindergarten student inserted a metal staple into an outlet.
1052118 Student taken to hospital then released.
February 20th Industrial Municipality Student at school took a dangling piece of wire and stuck it in
1090357 not given the receptacle. Student received electrical shock and burns.
February 23rd Industrial Scarborough Worker doing work on panel, short occurred causing electrical
1077409 contact. No details given of work being done at the time.
February 24th Industrial Caledon Worker was doing maintenance work on an electrical panel.
1090817 Short occurred, worker received burns to left hand, slight burn
to face.
February 28th Construction Sault Ste. Marie Worker’s hand made contact with energized 120 V cable.
1092437 No details given of work being done at the time.
March 3rd Industrial Barrie Worker received burn from 600 V arc. Received a severely
1091179 burned right hand, singed hair and a sunburnt face. No details
given of work being done at the time.
March 4th Construction Tiverton Worker made contact with 347 volts, taken to hospital then
1076223 released. No other details of event given.
March 16th Construction Nanticoke Worker disconnecting power cable to equipment, did not know
1092752 of second source of power. Worker made contact with 110 V,
declined medical attention.
March 17th Industrial Alliston Worker received burns from an electrical arc, minor burns on
1092909 left hand, 3rd degree burns on right. No details given of work
being done or voltage involved.
March 20th Industrial Toronto Worker using a multimeter on 600 V system, received a shock.
1091823 Worker taken to hospital then released.
March 21st Construction Etobicoke Worker made electrical contact while working on a 600 V
1090928 panel. Worker was adding circuits for new equipment when
contact occurred.
March 27th Mining Sudbury Electricians were racking out 4160 V starter when starter had
1088887 internal fault and arced. Electricians taken to First Aid for
examination then returned to work. Event description did not
state what injuries the electricians received. Starter was being
racked out to do diagnostic testing at the time of the internal fault.
Powerline Contacts – No Injuries:
January 13th Construction St. Catharines Buried 220 V cable dug up, no other details given.
1088678
January 18th Industrial Thunder Bay Workers cutting down trees, one tree hit the power line.
1084936
January 19th Construction Sarnia Worker cut through an energized 120 V cable with cutting
1089519 pliers.
January 23rd Mining Thunder Bay Flyrock contacted an overhead 4160 V power line.
1085178
January 25th Construction Kingston Tandem dump truck took down overhead power lines.
1081436 Box was still raised as truck moved off.
January 25th Construction Bath Contractor made contact with buried electrical cable.
1090021 Locates were off by about 20 feet.
January 26th Construction Thunder Bay Mast of rock drill contacted overhead 7200 V power line.
1083846
January 27th Construction Almonte Worker cut into a live 600V secondary cable, no other details
1087668 of event given.
February 21st Construction Oakville Backhoe hit 600 V buried cable. Locates had been done.
1090354
February 28th Industrial Penetanguishene Haulage truck with raised box contacted an overhead line.
1090830
March 4th Industrial Thunder Bay A waste-bin handling truck contacted an overhead service
1052120 line while unloading a waste bin.
March 7th Construction London Event classified as a power line contact, no other details given.
1091752
March 14th Mining Sudbury Haulage truck pulled down a power cable and a
1087214 communications cable, also snapped off a pole. Box was
raised as the truck was moving.
March 15th Construction Toronto Blasting mat flew up and contacted 115 kV power line.
1089595
March 15th Construction Mississauga Aerial device in use, metal part of boom contacted power
1090724 line.
March 17th Construction Hamilton Crane boom contacted overhead lines. Voltage of lines not
1076577 given.
March 25th Mining Sudbury 50 Ton underground haulage truck contacted a 4160 V power
1089208 cable. Truck is now being checked for height with respect to
installed height of cables in the various haulageways.
March 27th Industrial Iroquois Falls Excavator touched power lines, no other details of event given.
1088075
March 29th Mining Sudbury Dump truck contacted overhead lines, box was still raised.
1091031
March 29th Construction Welland Linesmen were doing work from buckets, one of the lines got
1093106 away from them and contacted another line. Arc and power
outage occurred.
March 30th Construction Walkerton Backhoe dug up a low voltage service line. No locates done.
1093112
March 30th Construction Sarnia Backhoe operator dug up high voltage powerline.
1093155
March 31st Construction Windsor Excavator dug up a buried high voltage line. Locates had
1093119 been done.
DATA SUMMARY – First Quarter
Fatals: Criticals: Non-criticals: Powerline Electrical
Contacts: Equipment:
2006 1 5 25 23 0
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…..
Nothing this quarter was sufficiently off-the-wall to include here this quarter. Stay tuned.
Information taken from Ministry of Labour MIS database
Report prepared: May 31, 2006
Assembled by: Michael Reiser
Engineer
PSS – Kitchener District
Phone: (519) 883-5682
FAX: (519) 883-5694
E-Mail: mike.reiser@mol.gov.on.ca
