Electric Power Industry Accidents: We Can Learn from Them & We Can Prevent Them

By Dr. Ganesh Narine

This book contains a detailed discussion on actual workplace accidents in the electric power industry. Dr. Narine explores the reasons for these accidents, and compares similar accidents from different places and times. The work involves an exploration of the electric power industry, the people who work there, and the work strategies, plans, and standards. It is a rare compilation of challenging issues that, if not managed, can lead to future accidents, worker injuries, and possibly deaths.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Mar 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9780228870685

Book preview

Electric Power Industry Accidents

We Can Learn From Them & We Can Prevent Them

Dr. Ganesh Narine

Electric Power Industry Accidents

Copyright © 2022 by Dr. Ganesh Narine

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-7067-8 (Hardcover)

978-0-2288-7066-1 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-7068-5 (eBook)

A problem cannot be fixed with the same level of consciousness that created it.

—Albert Einstein

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.

—Colin Powell

Forward to Electric Power Industry Accidents: We Can Prevent Them

It should not come as a surprise that people who are passionate about something collaborate with the goal of making their shared experience better. Such is the case with Ganesh Narine and I in the matter of safety in the workplace, and more particularly, regarding safety in the electric utility industry. We have been working together for the last three years and frequently discuss and debate the safety culture and practices in the places where we have worked. Both of us have multi-decade careers in the utility and education sectors, which include design, construction, and maintenance of the generation, transmission, and distribution equipment that is the backbone of our economy. This experience occurred in the field and in the office, which is notable, as this book provides examples that are diverse, practical, and relatable to you, the reader.

What is noteworthy about this book is that it provides first-hand experience about accidents that occurred in the workplace. These range from what are now termed safety catches, near misses, and simple first aid type injuries, to the most devastating events that impact the entire utility organisation—fatalities. This book also discusses the factors that set up the conditions for accidents, the management systems that try to prevent the accidents from occurring, and the action taken post-event to improve and prevent the same from happening again. But they do happen again. Each of the accidents discussed includes a summary of the event, conclusions, recommendations, discussion, observations, and critical points and factors. There are also examples that show that rules, processes, and procedures are not immune to the need for review and improvement as they were created, followed, and managed by humans. Together, these reviews assist the reader in understanding the event and what was done in the interest of preventing future accidents.

Ganesh brings to life in this book his experience in managing risk and safety throughout his career in Canada and in the Caribbean. The examples discussed are real and illustrate that safety is no accident. Instead, safety is a conscious and deliberate effort by all levels in the workforce and by the customers they serve. Some, if not all, of these examples should resonate with you, the reader, and be an opportunity to reflect on your own safety practices and culture. If even one of the reflections induces a change that protects you or someone else, this book and its career worth of experiences has prevented someone from receiving an injury or something much, much worse.

Warren Tracz, CD, M.Ed, C.E.T.

Utility Training Manager

Doctoral Candidate (Canada)

Dedication

I wrote this book so that my friends and colleagues who died in workplace accidents, like Kenneth, Alston, and Monilial, and many others who were severely and permanently injured, like Foster, Steve, and George, would never be forgotten. Their experiences must be the lessons we need to prevent future workplace accidents. I also wrote this book in tribute to Ricardo Inniss, the Manager I admired and from whom I learned the most. May you rest in peace. My extraordinary experience, spanning over four decades in the electric power industry, was great because of people like Michael Modeste, Jeffery Gabriel, Arlene Greaves, David St. Clair, Westly Orr, Harold Imam (Chicken), Foster Giles (Starsky and Hush….ssssh), Cutbert Cummings, Wallace Swan, Anslem Carrington, Richard Kissoon, Basdeo Patel, Chabindranand Jagdeo, Ashton Bandoo, and so many other individuals. You helped to make the journey one to remember.

My success builds on my family support and my everlasting desire to each day make the electric power industry better and safer. I am strong because of steadfast belief from my wife, Dr. Caroline W. Narine; daughter-in-law, Siddiqa (Family Deputy Leader); sister and her husband, Tara and Varna; son, Vivian; sister-in-law, Ann Marie (Shoulders); grand-niece, Kayshree; and grandson, Raihan (Family Leader – my papa). It would not be the same without your confidence in me.

Testimonials and Endorsements

In his book, Electric Power Industry Accidents: We Can Learn from Them and We Can Prevent Them, Dr. Ganesh Narine presents various types of accidents that happen within the electrical power industry. He gives vivid detail on how the accidents happened and discusses ways that the accidents could have been prevented. Although written for the electrical power industry, the book is easy to read and to understand, so someone with little experience in the field can understand and learn how to prevent accidents. Dr. Narine provides pictures of the various accident situations in conjunction with his detailed descriptions. In addition, he has provided thought-provoking questions that people in the industry should ask themselves to make their environments safer.

It is clear in reading this book that Dr. Narine’s mission is to prevent accidents and to make people more aware of how they can be prevented. The book is well written, interesting, and a must read for anyone in the electrical power industry.

Professor Elizabeth Thompson, Psy.D. Contributing Faculty, College of Management and Technology, Walden University. Doctor of Psychology – Clinical Psychology, Chair Ethics Committee, psychology section International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Served as member on Diversity and Education Committees at the IACP, Member - Chicago, IL United States.

***

Dr. Ganesh Narine should be highly commended as he has chosen a topic that most shy away from, because it requires diverse practical experience in the electric power industry. He discusses 36 actual accidents in detail, following a fixed template:

1.Summary – giving a preamble to the unique incident

2.Findings – what was discovered after investigating the incident

3.Conclusions – the interlocking reasons for the failure

4.Recommendations – what management should institute immediately to prevent recurrence

5.Discussion, Observations, Critical Points and Factors – general overview of personnel, training, and location, including what else could have occurred

As can be seen from these harrowing real-life incidents and the detailed analyses that Dr. Narine has done, many normal activities can be deemed dangerous once the safety-first yardstick is applied. I highly recommend this work to all in the industry, especially those who are recent recruits. This book would be a good refresher to all who are still in the industry, as complacency can lead to fatality. I highly recommend it as well to all the safety officers in the power industry.

Professor Chandrabhan Sharma, BSc, MSc, Phd, Elec Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, UWI, Fellow APETT, senior member of the IEEE Energy Systems. Authored over 100 refereed technical papers and reports to industry and has served in public commissions of enquiry in Trinidad and Jamaica. A past President/Chairman of the West Indies Group University Teachers, the IEEE Trinidad and Tobago Section, CACET, and APETT. Prof. Sharma served on Boards of Directors including: ISCOTT, PowerGen, T&TEC, BNB. He was the Chairman of NIDCO and Doc’s Engineering Works Ltd., a Director of the Barbados National Bank’s (BNB), and an independent Director of Republic Bank for 19 years. He is currently a member of the Boards of Directors of Trinidad Concrete Products and Caribbean Hydro Source, and Chairman of the Board TOSL Engineering Ltd. He is an Accredited Director by the ICSA of Canada. Prof. Sharma served as the Power Sector Adviser to the Organisation of Caribbean Utility Regulators (OOCUR).

***

It was very refreshing to see the human factor approach taking prominence in the book. This is exactly what is being promoted within the petrochemical sector on human and organisational performance.

I also appreciate Ganesh’s approach of laying the philosophy out first and then using past incidents to highlight how aspects of human performance factored into the events, the reviews, and the analysis. Additionally, recounting the events themselves provides a good history of what happened and gives the reader a taste of what is possible but also how the industry continues to evolve.

Fitzroy Harewood BSc Eng., MBA. President Point Lisas Nitrogen Limited, former President Petrotrin, former General Manager PowerGen

***

This work is a heartfelt reminder of how careful workers must be in the utility industry. It builds leadership awareness and perspective on complexities of safety incidents and reasons why controls failed. The examples are real and worded in such a manner that the reader feels part of the investigation. If you have not worked in the field, it demonstrates the practical realities that exist and brings the situational awareness necessary to the forefront. Great piece that will mature the safety culture for generations.

Ray Micallef, P. Eng., LL.M. Ray is a seasoned engineer who has years of experience in field operations, supervisory, and management in both private and public utility sectors. Ray has been training staff and participating in organisational safety programmes since the mid-90s. His passion for safety started with some close incidents, including a co-worker’s demise in a small non-utility generating station early in his career.

***

Ganesh illustrates and discusses 36 different incidents, many of which had severe outcomes. Having all these incidents clearly depicted in one place makes the book worth the read. Ganesh expertly gives his assessment and the findings from the incidents. Whether you agree or disagree with these assessments is not as important as understanding the incident and making your own decisions.

Our ability to discuss and understand what we need to do to mitigate risk relies on a clear understanding of the incident. Ganesh has provided that here in detail. We can debate, investigate, and discuss all we want, but Ganesh is right: We Can Prevent Them. Increase your own mental bandwidth and read the book.

William N. Martin Lineman, Safety Director, Live-Line Project Manager, Flight Nurse Paramedic, Expedition Climber, NorthLine Utilities / North East Live-Line North Country Life Flight.

***

Electric Power Industry Accidents: We Can Learn from Them & We Can Prevent Them is an insightful and easy to read guide that provide benefits for younger and older workers in the electric utility industry and other industries alike. Health and safety should be a core piece of any successful electrical utility organisation, and this book provides the missing piece of information that many of our academic institutions do not spend enough time educating our young professionals and tradespeople about today. Dr. Narine is able to provide many different types of examples that stretch from the office environment to electrical field line work and provide discussion points and thought-inducing questions regarding how various factors, like design, inspection, organisation culture, and human factors can be improved. I highly recommend this book to all leaders and individual contributors who want to make a positive impact at their workplace. Congratulations to Dr. Narine for delivering a wonderful piece of work that will hopefully get us closer to a future with no workplace accidents.

Daniel Lam P. Eng., PMP Unit Director Society of United Professional, IFPTE Local 160, Joint Health and Safety Committee Member.

***

Table of Contents

Forward to Electric Power Industry Accidents: We Can Prevent Them

Dedication

Testimonials and Endorsements

Chapter 1 - About the Book

Chapter 2 - Accident 1: Broken Chairs

Chapter 3 - Accident 3: Live-Line Fatality

Chapter 4 - Accident 4: Supervisor Died Working on a Powerline

Chapter 5 - Accident 5: Electrocution Reported at Point of Entrance

Chapter 6 - Accident 6: Fatal Switching Explosion on High Voltage Equipment

Chapter 7 - Accident 9: Fire Transformer Failure

Chapter 8 - Accident 10: Substation Explosion and Fire

Chapter 9 - Accident 12: Explosion in a Breaker Room

Chapter 10 - Accident 14: Fatal Fire at Generating Station

Chapter 11 - Accident 16: 33kV Flashover onto 12kV

Chapter 12 - Accident 17: Pole Lifting Injury

Chapter 13 - Accident 20: Tree Trimmer Fall

Chapter 14 - Accident 21: Too Close 33 kV Line Flash

Chapter 15 - Accident 22: Close Call While Switching

Chapter 16 - Accident 23: Hand Injury

Chapter 17 - Accident 25: Shocked and Fell from Pole

Chapter 18 - Accident 26: System Outage

Chapter 19 - Accident 27: Pipe Touched Powerline

Chapter 20 - Accident 34: Excavation Death

Chapter 21 - Accident 35: New Connection Broken Pole

Chapter 22 - Lively and Relevant Safety Discussion

References

Creating Objectives and Performance Indicators Part 2

Chapter 23 - Learning by Accident

Glossary

The Author

Chapter 1: Outline Strategy

About the Book

My intention for writing this book is for electric industry practitioners and stakeholders, non-electrical leaders, experts, and professionals to fully understand the safe work principles to be learned from experience and accidents in electric power systems and how misjudgments, errors, and dangerous incidents occur. Safety in the workplace remains a challenging management enigma and an area for significant focus, albeit sometimes misdirected and with continued unintended outcomes. In the electric power industry, the likelihood of accidents may be low, but when they do occur, it is common for serious injuries or even death to result. Many times, individuals become injured when conducting work, even when trained to do it. At other times, on site supervision was present while individuals who became injured performed work tasks and activities. These outcomes are not simple to explain and are even more challenging to prevent. In this book, I captured short descriptions of different but actual accidents and explained how common some of them are. Hopefully, this compilation can help practitioners today to understand what they can do to prevent future accidents.

In 1492, when Christopher Columbus convinced Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain to support the idea of heading west to end up in the east, the paradigm and thinking about a round world was already accepted by educated European scholars. Marco Polo earlier went east and found riches that became the driving force behind Columbus’s purpose. So, when Columbus came to the Americas and experienced an unexpected and unplanned outcome, was that an accident? The result of the 1492 expedition was unintentional and unexpected.

Thomas Edison successfully created an incandescent light bulb that could last for up to 1,200 hours. Edison attempted many times before accomplishing that goal—also unintended and not expected. Were the many unexpected outcomes accidents? Edison was not the first person to develop the light bulb. Humphry Davy invented the first light bulb in 1802. Another light bulb was created in 1850 by Joseph Wilson Swan. Edison started his experiments in 1878 and patented his design in 1879.

What is an accident? Today, accidents are unintended and unexpected outcomes associated with injury to an individual(s), process stoppage, damage to equipment, and measurable loss. A workplace accident occurs when individuals are killed or injured, or equipment damage and process loss occur. These bring other issues into consideration, including severity of the event, the frequency with which other similar incidents occur, and the extent to which normal work operations become disrupted. Organisational influences can vary depending on stakeholders’ expectations, industry standards and practices, material science, company size, location, and loss value.

When accidents occur, individuals who were involved are stigmatised, penalised, and, many times, marginalised. Individual trauma, stress, decline of well-being, and reduced psychological state are other relevant issues that often remain unrecognised and unaddressed, much to the disadvantage of the individual and, by extension, the organisation/company. The concept that trained, skilled, and responsible workers will always be sufficient to do work in acceptable ways must be reviewed and updated. The necessity for adequate supervision, apt management, and constant maintenance of situational awareness at work cannot be underplayed or underestimated. Worker safety is dependent on maintaining focus on the hazards that exist and the appropriate determination of the risks they pose. Mitigation of these risks is critical to maintaining a safe work environment: this is necessary when the work is occurring in places where other influences, such as wildlife, traffic, crime, and weather-related change, for example, can impact work activities.

Company policies, procedures, and work rules are crafted and promulgated so that, if applied as intended, individuals can remain safe while performing work for organisational success. Human Resources hires only the best available human capital, or so we think. Again, or so we believe, the most knowledgeable and competent individuals are promoted to senior positions with higher levels of responsibility and authority. These all occur with the sanction of organisational leaders who adopt philosophical roles and lead by example and with fabled and magical influence. So, why do accidents still happen? How can these be prevented? The truth is, sometimes individuals in critical places within organisations, especially those who wield significant influence over others at work, can cause performance drift, many times with adverse consequences.

I have examples of workplace accidents in the electric power industry. In each of these instances, the work outcomes were not as expected. Many of these occurrences resulted in individuals suffering severe injury or being killed, and all the accidents were preventable. The primary purpose of sharing this information is that industry practitioners can become informed of the missteps and use this knowledge to prevent future accidents and events. The technology used in the future may change, but human experience and how well they manage the challenge of coping with new devices and systems will be problematic if the introduction is ill-prescribed or poorly defined. I designed and wrote this book so that individuals from other industries and work environments can also learn from these accidents and prevent accidents where they are.

Electric Systems: Components and Installations

Pictures say thousands of words, or so I was taught, so I elect to briefly introduce the electric power system through images. These are, obviously, not sufficient to generate an expert understanding, but they can still promote a basic understanding of how dangerous this system can be.

Typical High and Low Voltage Installation

Picture C11 shows a typical high voltage overhead three-phase powerline installation: The top wires are energised at 12,000 volts, three pole-mounted transformers (tanks), a street light, and a down guy are installed on the pole. The lowest conductor wires are low voltage (115 & 230 volts) and exposed. I have included accidents where individuals were killed, and others severely injured on systems like in Picture C11.

High Voltage Installation

Picture C12 captures a more complex arrangement where high voltage overhead powerlines are built alongside one another and run along similar routes. One circuit is a powerline with wires energised at 66,000 volts. Another circuit, energised at 12,000 volts, is constructed with a pole-mounted transformer installed on the pole and with the top framed for 66,000 volts conductors (still not installed—it was a work in progress).

High Voltage Tower Installation

Picture C13 shows a double circuit on the same tower. There are two circuits installed on the structure. Each of the energised high voltage three-phase powerlines is at 33,000 volts.

Complex High Voltage Installation

Picture C14 shows a conductor wire maze energised at 132,000, 33,000, and 12,000 volts. Do you see how close the buildings are to these powerlines? That distance is critical to individuals remaining safe. Once the safe distance becomes breached, a fatality is very likely to occur.

Picture C15 shows a high voltage circuit breaker at a substation built to operate at 66,000 volts. Circuit breakers like this one safely conduct up to 1,000 Amps or more, as designed. The high voltage engineering on this device allows for remote operation by electric power professionals. This substation is a place where only expert and skilled electric industry practitioners can operate. It is a hazardous environment and not safe for other individuals. The danger is real.

High Voltage Circuit Breaker

Picture C16 shows high voltage installations at electric substations. High energy transformers, circuit breakers, and other devices are major components of and connect to the electric power system. Here, too, only individuals specifically trained to recognise the hazards and dangers are allowed into this space. For other individuals, this danger can prove fatal.

Picture C17 shows defective components taken from high voltage powerlines that failed in service and caused customers to experience an outage. These devices are called insulators. The grey insulator is polymeric, while the brown was a porcelain type. When these fail, the effect can be far-reaching. I have included accidents where individuals, including children, were injured because of insulators that failed.

Failed Insulators

Pole-Top Inspection

Picture C18 shows a failing pole-top insulator (as seen in the mirror) and a dead animal (lizard) on top of a pole. We found these during a pole-top inspection exercise as part of the local distribution company’s (LDC) preventative maintenance programme on high voltage powerlines.

Picture C19 shows a badly corroded 33,000 volt structure at the point above the lowest conductor wire (magnified in the inset and indicated by the arrow). The engineering integrity of the structure was lost because the corrosion was advanced, and the pole strength became compromised. The pole was reinforced and scheduled for change out at the next planned outage on the circuit.

Maintenance Related Issue

Picture C20 shows another 33,000 volt structure with a breached pole wall in an advanced state of corrosion, and a hole more than six inches in diameter located above the cross-arm (see the arrow and inset). It meant that the pole could have failed catastrophically with significant negative consequences. We removed the circuit from service for emergency change out of the stricture. The pole location was on a hill in a heavily forested area. The new structure took more than five days to install.

No Maintenance

Picture C21 shows a bird and a fish found on top of a 12,000 volt overhead powerline. The circuit traversed a coastal area where fishing activities were common. The 12kV powerline tripped. My son (pictured) and other LDC responders found the dead animals.

Circuit Tripped

Safe work requires each of us to look out for our safety and for the protection of our co-workers and other individuals who may be affected by the work we do. Picture C22 shows the Crew Leader and a member of his crew. We were discussing a significant disagreement that occurred on the team. We were able to recognise and address our differences, strong opinions, and ill feelings for our own safety and that of our colleagues. Safe work is nothing more than excellent communication and looking out for one another. This is built on each of us being knowledgeable about the work and exercising due diligence as we do that work.

Human-Related Issues

Long Serving Practitioners

We celebrate safe work and staying injury-free. It is indeed a true accomplishment to serve for a long period and then get to that retirement stage without being injured or killed at work. Picture C23 shows a group of my compatriots. We joined the electric power industry in the early 1980s and are still practising or are very close to retirement. Individuals in Picture C23 worked in power stations, distribution, transmission, training, safety, contract services, work design and planning, management, union leadership, and other significant aspects of the electric power industry. Congratulations for remaining safe over the years.

1990 T&T Richard and Carl

Picture C24 shows how happy we are. We survived 1990! Safe work does not always come from set work procedures and arrangements accepted and promulgated by the organisation. Safe work does not always follow industry best practices. Mind you, for most of our work life we will follow these industry best practices and set work procedures and guidelines approved by our employers. Safe work at extraordinary times requires confidence, alertness, and individual skills to remain aware of the hazards (many of which we, the workers, are untrained to handle) and to break work activities into a series of small steps with explicit details about which all workers on the team are in complete agreement. Hurricane Ivan in 2004, Katrina in 2005, and other disasters, such as the earthquake in Japan in 2010, are other examples of extraordinary events and times requiring individuals at work to negotiate danger primarily on their skills and alertness. Do an internet search on July 27, 1990, Trinidad and Tobago.

In 2021, after a significant weather-related event in the southern United States, an accident occurred where two electric utility workers were killed (follow the link for more details: https://youtu.be/AdQcION5lks).

Inattention & Misjudgment

On December 17, 2019, in a story in San Joaquin County, California, a German Shepherd dog chased a cat to the top of a tree. That, by itself, is not astonishing or would cause you a raised eyebrow. What about if the tree was sufficiently tall that the dog had to be rescued by firefighters using an extension ladder? I wanted to reproduce a picture of this dog and cat on top of the tree. Unfortunately, I did not get approval for that.

See this story (Photos listed as shared by the Lathrop Manteca Fire District at https://www.kcra.com › article › lathrop-manteca-firefighters-rescue-dog-stu…).

I have done a pencil drawing of this story based on the actual picture in the article above (see Picture C25)

Question: Why would the dog climb the tree?

The simple answer is the dog was micro-focussed on the cat and not fully aware of the surrounding and other existing hazards. How often do we, as individuals, get so focussed on what we are doing that we become oblivious to our surroundings?

https://www.kcra.com › article › lathrop-manteca-firefighters-rescue-dog-stu…

My Pencil Drawing of Dog on Tree

The complex answer is inattention and misjudgment by the dog. Regardless of our tasks, we must remain aware of our surroundings and judge whether the conditions and situations change and impact our work environment and job tasks. If there is an impact, we also measure the effect of that impact. We are often required to stop work and reassess our plans before continuing with the work activities. In this instance, the dog did not consider or deliberate in that way. The primary micro-focus on the cat was all the dog needed to end up in a dangerous place, and it could not get out of that dangerous place without a possible fall that could have injured or even killed it or without the help of the firefighters.

In 2021, a bear climbed a high voltage pole with energised powerlines in Manitoba, Canada. Luckily, the bear survived, even as customers went out of power (follow the link for more details: https://youtu.be/MmODHK4s7L4).

People Factors

Work, regardless of technology and innovation, is not possible without people. Safe work cannot be programmed and done through high-tech devices without persons providing oversight. Safe work is only possible when there is deliberate human focus and