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Four Corners Safety Network Equipment Move Task Force Safety Alert – Moving Equipment Around Utility Lines
In the past year, the Oil & Gas Industry within New Mexico and Colorado has experienced a number of serious incidents involving mobile equipment contacting High Voltage Overhead Power Lines. Two separate fatality cases involving contact with electric lines occurred in New Mexico on October13th and November 26th, OSHA states Oil & Gas Extraction workers sustained 404 fatalities in the United States from and twenty (20) of these were a result of contacting electric lines. As little as 5 milliamperes can be fatal . Depending on the body’s resistance and conditions of the ground, a person contacting a typical 8,000 volt single phase line could receive anywhere from 2 amps to as high as 80 amps of current across the body. Potentially 40 to 1600 times the amount of current required to stop a human heart.
Injuries, near-misses and property damage cases continue to occur in the San Juan Basin when mobile equipment is in transit below overhead power lines with inadequate clearance distances. Personnel may not be aware of adequate overhead clearance minimums and their hazard potential. Proper work planning and pre-trip routing surveys are essential for every equipment move. Work activities may have to be altered including “stopping the job” when these circumstances arise. The use of any material to raise any line, including hot sticks, is prohibited.
OSHA regulation requires 4 feet as a minimum acceptable overhead clearance distance for vehicles in transit. Pilot- vehicles which lead high-profile truck traffic to work locations need to use non-conductive clearance- reference poles to judge adequate overhead clearances. Several commercial brands of these poles are readily available which also require an electrical integrity test every 6 months. Drivers of all high-profile truck traffic, especially drivers of pilot-vehicles, need to understand the hazards and preventive actions associated with overhead power lines to prevent accidents in the San Juan Basin from happening.
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Overhead power lines are un-insulated and can carry tens of thousands of volts, making them extremely dangerous to employees who work in their vicinity. 1