Electrical High Dive 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
Stories about window washers failing to secure safety lines are old hat, but this nominee went one step further. On the morning of May 14, 2003, an employee of a window washing company began work on the roof of a building at the corner of Thurlow and Everleigh in Vancouver, BC. His first task was to move the steel cables that support the window washing platform to a new location on the building. Without bothering to tie himself down, or even to put on a harness to which to attach a safety line, our hero picked up the support line, walked to the edge of the roof, and tossed one end of the line over the edge while still holding onto the other end. He also didn't bother to check what was below him.
Remember I mentioned that the cables were steel cables? Steel conducts electricity exceptionally well. The end of the cable that was tossed off the building landed across power lines below. The flash as the lines shorted was bright enough to light up offices a block away. At this time, it is unclear whether the window washer was killed by electrocution, or by the ten-storey fall that followed. Another employee that was on the roof at the time was knocked down by the electric shock, but stayed on the roof.
Interestingly, the company that employed the deceased has been fined multiple times for safety violations.
The moral of the story is (1) don't work for a company that considers safety violation fines to be a normal cost of doing business, and (2) if you're going to do something as stupid as throwing an electrical conductor across power lines, at least make sure you won't fall off a building in the process.
News reference: http://www.news1130.com/ckwx/content/Local/20030514/20030514_20_34_01.html Submitted on 05/15/2003
Submitted by:
Anonymous
Reference:
CKWX 1130 news 2003/05/14
Copyright © 2002 DarwinAwards.com
|
