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Overhead Powerline Work Causes Electrocution The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today warned about the dangers of working close to overhead power lines, after a Perthshire soft fruit farming company and its owner were prosecuted following the electrocution of a Polish worker. Mr Gerard Faltynowski, 26, died on 28 July 2006 after metal extension poles he was using to construct the steel frame of a polytunnel came into contact with an 11,000 volt overhead electricity power line on farm land near Blairgowrie. At Perth Sheriff Court today, employer Thomas Thomson (Blairgowrie) Ltd, Bramblebank Works, Blairgowrie, and managing director Thomas Peter Mackie Thomson were fined a total of £10,800 after pleading guilty to breaches of health and safety law. On the day of the fatality, a team of employees, including Mr Faltynowski and 11 other migrant workers, were working in a field, starting to erect the steel frame of a polytunnel across which ran three overhead power lines carrying 11,000 volts of electricity. Short metal pieces measuring approximately 0.5m, were to be attached to each end of the metal hoops from which the tunnel was being constructed. Mr Faltynowski needed to bring a number of the extension pieces up the field and he slotted 13 together and carried them vertically. The topmost extension piece touched the overhead power lines and Mr Faltynowski was electrocuted. Following the fatal incident, HSE issued a Prohibition Notice to stop work being carried out so close to low overhead power lines. HSE Inspector Lawrence Murray said: "Mr Faltynowski’s tragic death was entirely preventable and arose from clear failures to assess and manage the risk of working close to or under overhead power lines. A suitable and sufficient risk assessment would have identified the danger and the necessary control measures, and a safe system of work would have ensured the safety of the employees. "Work which risks contact with overhead power lines should not take place within nine metres either side of a live power line. If it was not possible for the line to have been de-energised for the duration of the work, the polytunnels should not have been erected there. "On average two people are killed and many more are injured every year when they come into contact with overhead power lines during agricultural work. Machinery and equipment does not need to touch power lines for electricity to be transmitted because electricity can arc or jump across gaps. Farmers should be reminded that it is not just machinery that conducts electricity, a jet of water or liquid slurry; a piece of metal or fishing rod may also do the same." On average in the UK, approximately 60 per cent of electrical fatalities at work are caused by inadvertent contact with overhead power lines; this equates to 10-15 deaths per year. These incidents are predominately in the construction and agriculture sectors and mostly involve contact with high voltage lines such as the one in this tragic case. Thomas Thomson (Blairgowrie) Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined a total of £9,000 for failing to provide a safe system of work. This was reduced from £12,000 due to a guilty plea being tendered. Mr Thomson pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 by virtue of Section 36 (1) of the HSWA, and was fined £1,800. This was reduced from £2,500 due to a guilty plea being tendered. Mr Thomson admitted that due to his default as Managing Director, his company failed to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the work underneath the power lines. Source: HSE News
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