At-Risk Occupations in Power Line Fatalities: How Do Occupational Safety and Health Administration and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data Compare?

Abstract

njury from overhead power lines (ophls) is common in certain occupations. The u.s. Bureau of labor statistics (Bls) began its census of fatal occupational injuries (cfoi) database in 1992 and organizes injured workers by industry and occupation. The data show that, each year, ohpl injuries have outnumbered all other types of electrical injury. contact with ohpl injuries accounted for 44% of all electrical fatalities from 1992 through 2010, followed by contact with wiring, transformers, or other electrical components (27%) and contact with the electric current of machines, tools, appliances, or light

Industrial Internet of Things for Safety Management Applications: A Survey

“…Still, during the late 20 th century, severe injuries and loss of lives due to electrocution is one of the leading reasons for fatalities at the workplace [108]. Further, the construction of power and communication transmission lines was marked as one of the most hazardous and was ranked fourth with respect to the number of fatalities [10]. The faults emerging at the High Voltage (HV) switchgear, control gear, assemblies, and overhead power lines (OPLs), are also risky and unpredictable.…”

“…Only trained personnel are allowed to be in proximity to the HV switchgear, control gear, and assemblies to avoid accidents. Thus, adequate safety measures must be taken by the operators during the maintenance of switchgear, control gear, assemblies, and OPLs [10], [111]. The degree of risks of electrical injury at the workplace may vary primarily with the type of job the personnel is associated with.…”

“…Therefore, the prospect of having an intelligent and timely unified information acquisition and management system, which the IIoT paradigm naturally offers, is highly desirable for industrial domains such as safety management. For example, in underground mines and high voltage switchgear installations, the fatality rate of workers is typically high [10] owing to the highly hazardous nature of the work involved. A failure to comply with work-specific Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to the dot in these safety-critical domains often proves fatal.…”

A Cost-Effective Solution for Clearing High-Impedance Ground Faults in Overhead Low-Voltage Lines

“…3 where a phase conductor breaks and falls to the ground between poles 2 and 3. The contact between the broken conductor and the hook determinates a short circuit with a fault current given by (1).…”

“…44% of all electrical fatalities from 1992 through 2010 were caused by contact with overhead power lines, both lowvoltage and high-voltage [1]. The statistics also comprise accidents involving energized downed conductors, including drop-down services to dwelling units.…”