A key part of safety is learning from past accidents–whether they involve ourselves or others. The following recent accidents should be read with this in mind. The more we learn, the safer we are.
Fall
In early November, a PG&E T&R Gas Mechanic fell approximately 12 feet into a regulator pit station. Emergency Services were called and the trench rescue performed. The employee was evaluated at the hospital and kept overnight for observation.
Vehicle Accident
An apprentice lineman was traveling northbound on Highway 1 to assist a crew with an outage in San Luis Obispo County. The employee dozed off while driving.
The truck drifted across the southbound lanes onto the shoulder of the road, hitting metal and wooden fence posts, until the driver woke up and attempted to bring the truck back on to the roadway. The driver lost control of the truck, rolling onto its side, coming to rest on the passenger side. There were no injuries to the employee and no third parties were involved.
Vehicle Accident #2
During November storms a lineman who was working as a troubleman was involved in a non-injury accident. Preliminary analysis indicates the employee said he dosed off and woke up just before hitting a tree. He said he swerved in an attempt to miss the tree. The incident was being investigated.
Vehicle Accident #3
In late December, there was a serious motor vehicle incident involving a PG&E Electric Crew Foreman. The vehicle involved was a 2006 Ford F150 2X4 pickup towing a light standard trailer. The employee was part of a three person crew in route to their work location.
The employee was merging from one highway onto another. While negotiating the onramp, which is a sweeping right turn, the employee felt something amiss from the light standard trailer. The employee noticed in his driver side mirror that the light standard trailer had started to slide out to the outside of the turn.
The employee then stepped on the brakes, lost control of the truck and struck the sound wall inside of the turn. The truck spun around and came to rest on the driver side of the vehicle. No injuries occurred to employees, no third parties were involved. An incident analysis was being performed.
Arc Flash
A PG&E cableman with decades of company experience sustained minor burns while working on a sub-surface transformer. Preliminary indications are that the employee attempted to reset a sub-surface transformer secondary breaker during an outage when the transformer catastrophically failed.
The employee was treated for smoke inhalation and minor burns to his face and hands. The employee was admitted to hospital for treatment. A Serious Incident Analysis Team was commissioned to conduct an incident analysis.
Struck By
While preparing for a job, a PG&E employee was struck by a pole he was attempting to dispose of in a dumpster. The employee was transported by ambulance to the hospital, and later released. Below is the preliminary information.
A crew was tasked with changing out a Steady State pole. The crew assembled in the Service Center and proceeded to remove materials off the trucks from the previous day’s work. A piece of pole needed to be removed from the rack of a F550 power wagon.
Two lineman from the crew decided to remove the pole by hand, and positioned the vehicle alongside a wood debris container. One employee was positioned by the front driver side on the rack, the other had climbed into the bed of the vehicle. The two employees lifted the pole piece off the rack, and attempted to toss the piece into the dumpster. At this time, the pole piece did not clear the rail of the dumpster. The pole piece partially spun, striking the employee in the head while positioned in the bed of the vehicle.
Fortunately the employee was not seriously injured, and was released from the hospital.