“Look Up” – Truck Safety Around Overhead Power Lines

Post published:July 7, 2017
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Truck safety around power lines remains a critical safety consideration in construction work.

At a recent safety event, Toronto Hydro safety officials teamed up with members of the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) to distribute stickers to dump truck drivers as they left a work site in Toronto.

The stickers remind drivers to work safely around overhead power lines. Dump trucks are the number-one cause of power line contact in the construction industry.

While this story comes out of Canada, the numbers are very similar in the United States. (You can link to the Bureau of Labor Statistics here.)

According to the 2015 Ontario Electrical Safety Report, powerline contact accounted for 40% of all occupational electrical fatalities between 2006 and 2015.

Mike Doherty

Mike Doherty, an electrical safety consultant for e-Hazard Canada, has more than 46 years of industrial, commercial and electrical utility experience. He spent 31 years with Ontario Power Generation as a Control Technician, Electrical Safety Program Coordinator and Electrical Skills Instructor. A member of the Technical Committee of CSA Z462 for workplace electrical safety, he was Chair from 2006 to 2018, and is past Chair of the Association of Electrical Utility Safety Professionals. He currently serves as the Technical Committee Chair for CAN/ULC-S801-10 - Standard on Electric Utility Workplace Electrical Safety for Generation, Transmission and Distribution. He serves as the official liaison alternate between the CSA (Canadian Standards Assn.) and the U.S. NFPA (National Fire Protection Assn.) for electrical safety. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and an IEEE PCIC Emeritus.