Fatal Injury in a High-Rise Office Building Electrical Maintenance Operation

A relatively inexperienced construction electrician was killed while he was working on the cleaning and routine maintenance of a piece of 480 volt switchgear in New York State. This consultant's client was the contractor that employed the decedent. All of the power had been shut off and had been tested to be off. However, a maintenance worker started an emergency generator in order to operate sump pumps. The decedent failed to test the circuit properly before touching the exposed conductors to do some cleaning and was killed instantly. From accident reports, electrical drawings, contracts, police reports, photographs, informational reports, and a site visit, this consultant's analysis indicated that :

1. The decedent did not test properly.
2. The training that his employer had given him was correct and sufficient.
3. The owner had not given the decedent's employer correct and complete information about the electrical system
4. The contractor that had installed the equipment in the late 1960's (not the employer of the decedent) installed equipment that was not according to code.
5. The manufacturer that made the piece of switchgear had not followed the applicable codes.

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