Cherry picker versus Electricity – No contest

A worker died on 13th October 2011 after being electrocuted when a cherry picker he was using in Brize Norton, Oxfordshire touched high voltage power lines.

Dean Bough, 17, worked for Cooper Construction and suffered a cardiac arrest after the surge of power hit him and threw him from the machine. An air ambulance, paramedics and police rushed to the site this afternoon after the alarm was raised by another worker at about 3.30pm.

The victim was taken by ambulance to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. A police spokesman confirmed the man had died following the incident. A full scale Health and Safety Executive investigation has been launched.

Lighthouse Staff are continually reinforcing the need to conduct a site specific Risk Assessment which should aim to identify all Area Hazards and suitable control measures to eliminate or reduce the chance of injury or incident occurring. Simple check lists may be all that is needed to force supervisors and operatives to take a moment to check the area around them, which may have a number of outcomes;

• Area safe to work in. CONTINUE work.
• Area has minor issues that need controlling, but within the scope of controlling – STOP and adopt the identified controls before continuing.
• Area has major issues that need others to take decisions. – STOP and don’t continue until hazards have been rectified.

DONT TAKE THE RISK – IT IS NOT WORTH THE FIVE MINUTES IT SAVES