ISSUE 231 - FREE
5
JULY 2019
COMMUNITY NEWS. ORIGINAL - ACCURATE - FIRST
017 631 1903 / 017 631 1845 • admin@thebulletin.co.za • 1 Kiewiet Street, Secunda (Lake Umuzi)
Shocking safety blunder
The Bulletin was alerted on Wednesday, 26 July, of an accident that occurred approximately 500 m into the veld as you turn right onto the dirt road just past the Walker Park Golf Course, on the road leading from Evander to eMbalenhle (opposite Brendan Village turnoff). The casualty, a male, was stretched out on his back at the bottom of the erected scaffold, next to the pylon from where certain work was to be undertaken by the Eskom appointed contractor. Shayne van der Heever from Langamed and personnel from ER24 stabilised the patient before ER24 transported the injured to Highveld Medic Clinic. The Bulletin was informed by the spokesperson of the clinic that he was transferred to Union Hospital. Serious injuries were sustained, including a broken femur and electrical burns to one of his arms. Shayne told The Bulletin that the difficulty with identifying the seriousness of electrical burns is that most damage is not visible from the outside. The Bulletin was informed by a representative of the contractor that they were tasked with removing the aluminium cable which in the past carried high voltage current, now
redundant, from the top of the pylons from which it hanged. The removal of cable is done to curb theft and vandalism of redundant powerlines. This contract was awarded to a scrap metal dealer in the industrial area in Evander. The Bulletin could not ascertain with a hundred percent’s certainty what the root cause of this near fatal accident was, as conflicting statements as to the why and where, were made by the different parties’ representatives at the accident site. According to the Eskom representative (Erep) on site, at the time of the incident, the contractor worked on the wrong line. The Erep indicated to The Bulletin the identification numbers of the different pylons indicating the correct line for removal. The Erep was adamant that the contractor worked on the incorrect line. The contractor’s site representative indicated that the day before they removed cables from the northern line on the western side of the R546 and therefor the northern line on the eastern side of the R546 should be the same line. It is, however, alleged that the contractor did not properly ascertain that the cable in question was the one with no current flowing as indicated on
the works instruction. The Bulletin investigated the statement of the contractor’s representative by following the line to the R546. Unfortunately, our investigation revealed the lines crossed next to the road, causing a changeover of the northern and southern lines. The response from many of The Bulletin’s Facebook readers, if not all, agreed that numerous safety rules as prescribed by the Occupational Health and Safety Act (85 of 1993) as amended were transgressed. The Bulletin spoke to some safety practitioners to obtain their comments based on the photographs. Herewith some of the answers: no railing on the scaffold, scaffold boards were not completely installed on all landings, omission of ladders to the different landings, no kick plates, no trapdoors from landing to landing, the safety harness of the injured person was visible on the second landing of the scaffold. There was no evidence of the legally required earth device from the HT cable to earth. The following comments were based on the photographs that were taken from the accident site. Mamfedi Malose
Shongoana Irrespective the powerline was isolated from sources of supply.i.e. substation, by-pass or power station the use of proximity test is important and even after it was verified dead (powerline) the use of spike earthing must be created on the left and right to create equi-potential zone due to static charge caused by the line next door. Saif Khan Isolate all charge line near working area then deployed workmen and discharge all conductor wire by discharge stick for protect of back feed current or Induction current. Ensure height worker wear full body harness. Douglas Ngwasha Safety, safety, safety first always.He was given the go ahead to work on the line. Which means he was supposed to carry out the necessary safety checks before any person was to touch the line.Get well soon to the employee. Cornelia Peens Safety always first don›t trust anyone with safety best check yourselves before doing anything Siyemukela Ntshangase Poor people! You cannot work on overhead lines without Testing for dead and work between two portable earths. As a contractor, have approximately tester to confirm that the overhead line is indeed De-enegised. - Aart Reedijk