Source: El Nuevo Constructor
Publication date: May 1, 2007
More than fifty construction workers are killed each year electrocuted by contact with power lines found both overhead and underground on almost every construction site in the country.
The leading cause of contact involves heavy equipment like cranes, drilling rigs, concrete pumps, aerial buckets, dump trucks and backhoes. Of all heavy equipment contacts, cranes—either mobile or boom trucks--account for almost 60 percent of electrocutions.
But you can also be electrocuted when handling other construction materials and tools like long aluminum paint rollers, long-handled cement finishing floats, metal siding and roofing, metal ladders, and scaffolding.
Protect Yourself
Protect yourself from live power lines by looking around your work area and identifing the location of all power lines before you move or erect any equipment. Make certain that no part of any equipment comes any closer than at least 10 feet from the power line. And remember, this distance is greater for voltages above 50kV. Don't operate equipment around overhead lines unless you are authorized and trained to do so. Contrary to what many workers think, overhead power lines do carry enough voltage to kill and most are not insulated.
Maintain Safe Distances
Below are the minimum distances to maintain from power lines of different voltages. Remember, the higher the voltage running through the line, the farther away you need to be to b...
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