At 8:41 a.m. on August 3, 2020, two employees were working as electricians for an electric power utility. They and a third employee were working at a coal-fired generating station. The two electricians, were troubleshooting the generating station's pulverizer and pulverizer fan number 6 breaker. The breaker would not rack out from an energized 4,000-volt buss. The two electricians opened up the breaker cabinet door to access the breaker and to visually inspect the racking mechanism. The two employees unbolted and removed the front interphase barrier cover. One employee started to unbolt the horizontal steel barrier plate directly below the exposed primary side of the breaker in order to view the back portion of the lower racking mechanism. As he was doing this, an arc flash occurred. He received arc flash burns to his upper body. The second electrician, located behind his co-worker, also received burns. The third employee responded to the incident and received an injury to his leg. The two electricians were hospitalized with serious burn injuries. The electrician who received arc flash burns to his upper body died on August 26, 2020, as a result of the injuries he had received. The second electrician was hospitalized with serious burns. The third employee was treated for a contusion to his left leg. — OSHA Fatality Report
Electrical-related fatalities and serious injuries (FSI)* are among the noted FSIs. FSIs represent a safety and health challenge that has gained increasing visibility in the past decade as even organizations with elite environment, health and safety programs struggle to reduce FSI numbers.