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ElectricityProtect yourself first
Before reaching an injured coworker, the rescuer decides how to protect themself as well as the injured worker. After an electrical contact the worker may still be touching a live conductor, especially at lower voltages, and OSHA's Electric Power eTool puts that first in any rescue.
Free to startScenarios
- A line worker hurt by an electrical contact at the top of a pole.
- A worker hurt in an underground manhole or vault, where the atmosphere may have become immediately dangerous to life or health.
The steps
- Stop and think clearly about what needs to be done.
- Decide how to protect yourself as well as your injured coworker.
- Treat the worker as possibly still in contact with a live conductor, especially at lower voltages.
- Treat the lines and equipment as energized unless they have been deenergized under the rule.
- Do not approach the energized parts closer than the company's minimum approach distance unless you are insulated from them.
- In a manhole or vault, treat the atmosphere as possibly immediately dangerous to life or health.
- Only then reach the worker with the rescue procedure your company trained you in.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Electric lines and equipment are treated as energized unless they have been deenergized under 29 CFR 1910.269.
To pass
- The rescuer protects themself before reaching the injured worker.
- No single rescue method is set by law: each company develops its own techniques and trains its crews in them.
Official source
Federal · OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.269
Pole Top and Manhole Rescue Requirements (Electric Power eTool)
OSHA publishes its Electric Power eTool free: what pole-top and manhole rescue require and how rescuers must act.
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