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Willand, Cullompton, Devon · Exeter Crown Court
A cherry picker struck an 11,000 volt overhead powerline during work to remove a biodigester lid and clear a crust blockage at a biogas site. A worker on the platform was electrocuted and a colleague suffered life-changing injuries.
Injuries: One worker was fatally electrocuted; a second sustained life-changing injuries.
Regulation 3(1)(a) of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (via Regulation 14)
“Working underneath overhead powerlines is inherently unsafe and these risks should be eliminated.”
Work near overhead powerlines requires the line to be made dead or a proactively planned safe exclusion distance, never reliance on operator judgement.
The machines, packs and quizzes that fit this kind of site.