In June of 2016 tragedy struck the maintenance crew at the Jersey City Medical Center in Jersey City, New Jersey. A maintenance worker was replacing an overhead ballast in a light fixture and fell from his ladder. He was hospitalized for the injuries sustained during this accident and sadly, died a month later.
That same month OSHA began it’s investigation into the accident and found a sad explanation for his death. By December of that year the findings determined the cause of the tragedy to have been preventable and the employer, Jersey City Medical Center RWJ Barnabas Health, at fault. The medical facility had failed to implement any kind of Arc Flash Safety/Electrical Safety Program. Willful and Serious violations have been filed by the US Dept of Labor and Penalties have been proposed.
In the Jan. 3, 2017 Regional News Brief-Region 2 posted at
https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=33612
it states, “The agency cited the willful violation because the facility required employees to change ballasts without the proper lockout/tagout training on practices and procedures necessary to disable machinery or equipment to prevent hazardous energy release, as well as other safety hazards and related unsafe practices.
The serious violations involved the medical center’s failure to ensure de-energized circuits were locked out, maintain an electrical lockout/tagout program, ensure that only qualified persons worked on live circuits, provide personal protective equipment, and ensure workers did not work on live parts.”
This is the exact reason Masters Compliance is so passionate about Electrical Safety in the Workplace. An active and compliant Electrical Safety Program could have given this employee the knowledge and tools needed to complete his task in a safe manner. Arc Flash Safety does save lives! Including Assessment, Training, and Personal Protective Equipment in your Electrical Safety Program is the process to keep your employees safe!
“This worker’s tragic death was preventable. Jersey City Medical Center did not have basic lockout/tagout safeguards in place to prevent exposure to electrical hazards, and failed to train its maintenance workers on these safeguards. As a result, the worker sustained an electrical shock while changing the ballast, fell approximately 6 feet off a ladder and died from his injuries,” said Kris Hoffman, director of OSHA’s Parsippany Area Office.
Begin the process of implementing an electrical safety program today, give us a call.
Our deepest condolences go out to the staff, crew, friends and family of the deceased employee.