# Lineman shocked by 69,000 volts



## pudge565

*
*

*This took place in Berks county, Pennsylvannia
*

*Met-Ed worker in Allentown-area burn center after accident in Spring Township*

*Thousands of utility customers in western Berks County lost power for about two hours Sunday after crews cut electricity to rescue the man.*

By Michelle Park
Reading Eagle

Thousands of utility customers in western Berks County lost power for about two hours Sunday after crews cut electricity to rescue a Met-Ed worker who had come into contact with a line in Spring Township, officials said.

The worker, whose name was unavailable, was taken by ambulance to Reading Hospital after he was shocked by the 69,000-volt line shortly before 5 p.m., authorities said.

He was in an Allentown-area burn center today after being transferred from Reading Hospital, a spokeswoman for the utility company said.

Met-Ed spokeswoman Karen R. Baxter on Monday declined to release the man’s name or provide any information on his injuries, saying only that he was transferred Sunday night to the Lehigh Valley Hospital burn unit.

"We’re all very concerned for him but I’m not at liberty to release his condition," Baxter said.

Crews cut electricity to the line at Old Fritztown Road and Frederick Street so they could lower the 30-foot crane on which the man had been working. The outage also knocked out power to traffic signals at State Hill and Van Reed roads and the area of the Broadcasting Square shopping center.

Baxter said the accident is under investigation.

The worker was injured near the border of the Met-Ed and PPL service areas. It also is near the border of Spring and Cumru townships.

Nearly 9,000 PPL Electric Utilities customers lost power for almost two hours after the accident, said Don E. Stringfellow, regional community relations director for PPL. The hardest hit areas were Spring and Heidelberg townships, he said.

Some scattered Met-Ed customers also lost power, Baxter said.

The Met-Ed employee was working from a bucket truck to repair a utility pole when he came into contact with the power line carrying 69,000 volts, authorities said.
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Sixty-nine thousand volts is a significant energy source, Stringfellow said. It is 575 times greater than the voltage in a residential outlet.

The worker was conscious and talking to rescuers shortly after the accident, Spring Township Fire Chief Michael P. Roth said. He didn’t know the extent of the man’s injuries.

She did not know if the line is owned by Met-Ed or PPL.

The Met-Ed employee was working from a bucket truck to repair a utility pole when he came into contact with the power line carrying 69,000 volts, authorities said.

The worker was conscious and talking to rescuers shortly after the accident, Roth said.

Barry L. Stetzler, who lives nearby in Cumru, said he was clearing ice off his car when he heard a loud cracking sound. He said he ran behind his house and saw a brown plume of smoke.

"I heard something explode, like a big boom," he said. "The man was up in the bucket, screaming. He said, 'It's getting hot up here.' "

After the electricity went out, emergency power was used at a Christmas program attended by about 500 people at Conrad Weiser High School near Robesonia.

Although it was difficult to see, the chorus and soloist made it through a few pieces before coordinators ended the event about 15 minutes early, according to a Spring Township resident who attended.

St. Daniel's Lutheran Church in Robesonia sponsors the annual event.

•Contact reporter Michelle Park at 610-371-5022 or [email protected].


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## nolabama

god bless him and his family - i hope he makes it thru this


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## bobelectric

What went wrong?


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## pudge565

bobelectric said:


> What went wrong?


I am not sure. I have not seen anything in the paper about it since.


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## SmithBuilt

nolabama said:


> God bless him and his family - i hope he makes it thru this


I'll second that. It makes me cringe when I see topics like this come up.




We should talk about and encourage safety more on our jobs and the forums.


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## sherman

I will say a prayer for him and his family.


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## freddicer

*post Some Pics Pls*


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## Benny

> *post Some Pics Pls*


Seriously? That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. You want to see a fellow electrical burned up.....


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## mikeh32

what was the amperage of this?

and prayers to him and family


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## freddicer

*OMG!*


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## rexowner

I was talking to a POCO lineman the other day and he
commented that he was much more afraid of 277/480 than
12K/7200 because he claimed that it was his experience
that the high voltages through you off of the line, but
the "low voltage" clamped you on. I really don't have
any intention of finding out, but it was an interesting
comment if it's true.


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## exploreralpha

rexowner said:


> I was talking to a POCO lineman the other day and he
> commented that he was much more afraid of 277/480 than
> 12K/7200 because he claimed that it was his experience
> that the high voltages through you off of the line, but
> the "low voltage" clamped you on. I really don't have
> any intention of finding out, but it was an interesting
> comment if it's true.


I have heard that multiple times myself. 
I tend to believe it's true.

Aaron


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## nitro71

rexowner said:


> I was talking to a POCO lineman the other day and he
> commented that he was much more afraid of 277/480 than
> 12K/7200 because he claimed that it was his experience
> that the high voltages through you off of the line, but
> the "low voltage" clamped you on. I really don't have
> any intention of finding out, but it was an interesting
> comment if it's true.


 
That's just ignorance on his part. How does the voltage throw him? Does it wind up and pitch him? If it does throw him(ie: his muscles contract and he's lucking enough for it to push him away) the fall could seriously injure you even with a fall restraining device. That available arc fault amperage has to be incredible along with the damage it can do using your body as a conductor. That 277 circuit he is more afraid of might have a 20 amp circuit breaker protecting it. Wonder what size over current protection device is on that 12K system? I'm willing to bet if there was a study detailing severe injuries and deaths per incident of contact that it is much more dangerous on medium and high voltage. I've been shocked by 277 once, 120 3-4 times, couple of times on ballasts, once off a large capacitor(made my arm tingle pretty good). Wonder how many non-hospitalized incidents there are like that with 13200 volts?


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## Zog

nitro71 said:


> . That 277 circuit he is more afraid of might have a 20 amp circuit breaker protecting it. Wonder what size over current protection device is on that 12K system?


What does that have to do with it?



nitro71 said:


> I'm willing to bet if there was a study detailing severe injuries and deaths per incident of contact that it is much more dangerous on medium and high voltage?


Right, there have been studies and the survival rate is much lower at those voltages, but the incident rate for LV is much higher, because it is more common and electrical workers don't worry about low voltages.


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## nitro71

At least having a 20 amp breaker in place limits the arc flash.


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## exploreralpha

nitro71 said:


> That's just ignorance on his part. How does the voltage throw him? Does it wind up and pitch him? If it does throw him(ie: his muscles contract and he's lucking enough for it to push him away) the fall could seriously injure you even with a fall restraining device. That available arc fault amperage has to be incredible along with the damage it can do using your body as a conductor. That 277 circuit he is more afraid of might have a 20 amp circuit breaker protecting it. Wonder what size over current protection device is on that 12K system? I'm willing to bet if there was a study detailing severe injuries and deaths per incident of contact that it is much more dangerous on medium and high voltage. I've been shocked by 277 once, 120 3-4 times, couple of times on ballasts, once off a large capacitor(made my arm tingle pretty good). Wonder how many non-hospitalized incidents there are like that with 13200 volts?


I think you are missing something. At lineman voltage, an arc causes an EXPLOSION, which causes a shock wave which would push someone away. There is no explosion when you touch a 120-208 or 277-480 hot. That causes your muscles to contract, making letting go an intellectual exercise. I've talked to a few linemen, most are warier of what I work on rather than what they work on.


Aaron


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## exploreralpha

nitro71 said:


> At least having a 20 amp breaker in place limits the arc flash.


A 20 amp breaker does not work fast enough, an arc flash only lasts a few cycles. A Breaker will take to long, I don't remember what the fastest breaker response is, but it's on the order of 5-20 cycles.

Aaron


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## micromind

Complacency plays a role here too. If you get too comfortable working low voltage hot, you'll let your guard down.....then.....bad news.

I don't know about anyone else, but when I'm working medium or high voltage hot, the plain and simple fact that there won't be a second chance is always at the very forefront of my mind. 

The environment is different as well. There's a huge difference between working 480 with gloves while surrounded by all sorts of grounded framework and in close proximity to other hot phases as opposed to working 12.5 KV with a hotstick. 

Rob


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## Zog

exploreralpha said:


> A 20 amp breaker does not work fast enough, an arc flash only lasts a few cycles. A Breaker will take to long, I don't remember what the fastest breaker response is, but it's on the order of 5-20 cycles.
> 
> Aaron


An arc flash will sustain as long as it takes for the OCPD to clear it if >240V and fed by a transformer >125kVA.


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## user4818

exploreralpha said:


> There is no explosion when you touch a 120-208 or 277-480 hot.


That's not true at all. You can make incidental contact with 277 or 480 volts and cause a very severe arc flash. I don't think it would be anything like a bolted fault but the arc flash potential is still there.


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## exploreralpha

Peter D said:


> That's not true at all. You can make incidental contact with 277 or 480 volts and cause a very severe arc flash. I don't think it would be anything like a bolted fault but the arc flash potential is still there.


Well, I've never felt anything from an arc flash, I've seen the blast (on TV) from when someone touches the high voltage wires, it's more of a blast. But he, we can agree to disagree on this.

Aaron


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## user4818

exploreralpha said:


> But he, we can agree to disagree on this.


There's nothing to "agree to disagree" about. It is indisputable that 480 volt systems have very high arc flash potential. Here is an example of a bolted fault:






And if you're still not convinced, here's another. The video is of German origin so likely they are using 400 volts for testing purposes. Still pretty nasty.


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## John Valdes

rexowner said:


> I was talking to a POCO lineman the other day and he
> commented that he was much more afraid of 277/480 than
> 12K/7200 because he claimed that it was his experience
> that the high voltages through you off of the line, but
> the "low voltage" clamped you on. I really don't have
> any intention of finding out, but it was an interesting
> comment if it's true.


Not that I will ever try and see if this is true or not, I can say one thing with confidence. Accidents or mistakes on medium and high voltage are most always deadly. It is rare for someone to come into contact with these voltages and survive. 
We come into contact with low voltage on occasion and most of us survive.


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## exploreralpha

Peter D said:


> There's nothing to "agree to disagree" about. It is indisputable that 480 volt systems have very high arc flash potential. Here is an example of a bolted fault:
> ere is another example:
> 
> And if you're still not convinced, here's another. The video is of German origin so likely they are using 400 volts for testing purposes. Still pretty nasty.
> 
> 
> 
> Alright, I'll concede the point, it's horrible. But anytime I've been zapped, it's been where my muscle reaction is to jerk away from the current.
> 
> If your bare skin touches high voltage though, it doesn't just shock you (provided you are grounded), it has so much pressure (we all know voltage is electrical pressure) that it explodes out. I think it is more likely to be blown away from high voltage when you simply touch it, low voltage you'd have to ground something out, either cross phase, or something metal touching grounded metal and then you get an overcurrent situation which causes an arc flash.


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## Zog

exploreralpha said:


> Alright, I'll concede the point, it's horrible. But anytime I've been zapped, it's been where my muscle reaction is to jerk away from the current.


Thats because the current level passing though you was less than the minimum let go current, which is around 15mA for a male. AC causes your muscles to contract, so once you get to that point you will not be able to let go. 



exploreralpha said:


> If your bare skin touches high voltage though, it doesn't just shock you (provided you are grounded), it has so much pressure (we all know voltage is electrical pressure) that it explodes out.


Really? Pressure huh? From voltage? No, the "pressure" you see in those arc flash videos is real pressure, rapid expansion of air and copper when the arc flash occurs at tempatures up to 26,000 degrees F. The tempature reached is dependant on available fault current in the system, and you typically have much higher fault currents on low voltage systems than MV or HV systems. 



exploreralpha said:


> I think it is more likely to be blown away from high voltage when you simply touch it, low voltage you'd have to ground something out, either cross phase, or something metal touching grounded metal and then you get an overcurrent situation which causes an arc flash.


Huh? Nothing in that paragraph makes any sense. :blink: (See now you guys have me using smiley faces)


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## wildleg

wha ?


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## hvideo1

I think pic in post #10 should be removed.This is serious and someone got hurt not a joke  Think of the family and friends.


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## RIVETER

*Lineman*

If he took enough of a jolt that would cause several townships to go out, how could he live? I hope that he did...I just don't believe the story.


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