Three fatalities in electrical accidents in 2006
Three fatal electrical accidents were recorded in Finland last year. One of them was suffered by a professional in the field of electricity. The yearly average of fatal electrical accidents is 3 to 4. We have seen no year with avoided lethal electric shocks.
Of the last year's fatal electrical accidents, two were suffered by laymen and one by a professional in the field of electricity. The latter occurred at a railway yard when a fuse of a switch heating transformer was being replaced. One of the laymen died after an unauthorised entry to a metro track. The other was a concrete pump truck driver, who was killed by electric shock at a construction site, when the truck hose control's 24-meter boom hit a 20,000 V powerline.
The number of fatal electrical accidents in Finland is relative low. Particularly electric shock deaths in households are rare. Apart from the fatal accidents, there are several other accidents and near-misses, so the electrical safety cannot be taken as granted at construction sites or in homes. The personal accident insurance data also show that that over 200 remunerated electrical accidents occur at work places each year. About 50 of such cases are reported to TUKES on yearly basis.
The most serious electrical accidents usually involve touching high-voltage overhead powerlines or electric railway contact lines. Fatal electric shocks are very often suffered by vehicle drivers e.g. at work sites close to electric powerlines. There has been a slight increase in the most severe accidents of professionals in the last few years, common scenes being overhead powerlines and assemblies of switchgear and controlgear.
Beneath or beside high-voltage overhead powerlines, it is important to keep a few meters safety distance to all conductive work machines and other objects. Not even an actual touch with the powerline is needed for an accident, as electricity "jumps" to an item which is too close. Therefore, also anglers using carbon fibre poles are in danger, as carbon fibre is a material that conducts electricity well.
For more information:
Harri Westerlund, Chief Safety Engineer, TUKES, tel. 010 6052 572