Firms warned of electric shock risk from overhead cables

THE Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning employers to be waryof operating machinery near overhead power cables after a man sufferedserious burns when he was hit by an electrical charge while visiting awaste site at Booths Farm, Cheadle, Staffordshire, on 3 September 2008.

The injured man, Andrew Perry, was using a control lever to move theextending arm of his truck to tip waste materials, when it touched aset of 33,000V overhead electric cables. The electricity surged throughthe metal structure of the vehicle and through Mr Perry’s body,throwing him from the vehicle and leaving him with burns to his arm andfeet.

The site owner, John Rowland Fallows, who trades as FallowsRecycling Services, pleaded guilty at Newcastle-under-Lyme MagistratesCourt to breaching Regulation 14 of the Electricity at Work Regulations1989. He was fined £1,600 and ordered to pay £2,214 costs.

HSE inspector Lynne Boulton said: ‘Mr Perry was very lucky not tohave lost his life. Around 60% of electrical fatalities at work arecaused by inadvertent contact with overhead power lines. It’s importantto remember that machinery and equipment do not need to touch powerlines for electricity to be transmitted because it can arc or jumpacross gaps.

‘In this case, there were no barriers or warnings to prevent driversvisiting this site from tipping waste materials under the power linesand it was only a matter of time before an incident like this tookplace. It wouldn’t have taken much effort to install barriers, asproven by the fact that Mr Fallows quickly erected barriers and warningsigns to avoid a repeat of this incident shortly after it occurred.’