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Nearly fatal accident at LANL

Can anyone provide information on the "near fatality" electrical incident at LANL last week? A open junction box with multiple wires bare wires, worker fell 5-feet to the ground on his back, with serious electrical burns on his hand. If the shock wouldn't have cause his death the fall might have. Mark one up for another LANS VPP Star Status safety incident.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Another LANS VPP Star Status safety incident.
Anonymous said…
"It's just the day-in and day-out safety and security incidents at LANL", Dr. Victor Reis, DOE Assistant Secretary for Defense Programs, DP-1, 1997
Anonymous said…
Near miss electrical accidents happen way too often at LANL. Seems like only a few years ago that the place was almost shut down for this.
Anonymous said…
Clear case of lack of proper hazard identification and faulty work control process. For more on the topic of electrical accidents at LANL, just look at this:

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4813972&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D4813972
Anonymous said…
I guess it's just LANS' fault that they hired an incompetent electrician who fell asleep in "lock-out tag-out" training.
Anonymous said…
Was he wearing those famous LANL "Shoes that grip"?
Anonymous said…
"It's just the day-in and day-out safety and security incidents at LANL", Dr. Victor Reis, DOE Assistant Secretary for Defense Programs, DP-1, 1997

March 6, 2015 at 3:02 PM"

Vic Reis also said that privatization of the labs was a failure.
Anonymous said…
So are there any links to genuine information about this supposed incident, or...?
Anonymous said…
I guess it's just LANS' fault that they hired an incompetent electrician who fell asleep in "lock-out tag-out" training.

March 6, 2015 at 8:25 PM

The incompetent electrician is a LANS employee hired by an incompetent LANS Manager. LANS is incompetent from the top to the bottom
Anonymous said…
So are there any links to genuine information about this supposed incident, or...?

March 6, 2015 at 9:45 PM

Are you kidding me. LANS is doing everything they can to cover-up this one too. The "investigation" is ongoing. Pictures were shown of the open junction box that was left open with multiple wires protruding outside the box from construction of the building. I also heard there were multiple violations of the electric code, apparently multiple voltage wires inside the box.

The electrical worker was shocked so bad, he was unable to free himself from the source and had to kick the ladder he was standing on to free himself falling 5-feet to the floor. He had a severe burn to his hand. They were apparently performing an inspection of the building alarm system and removed a ceiling tile when they observed the open box. What happened next is unclear.
Anonymous said…
3:02 repeating a falsehood is a logical fallacy. Doing so in a discussion about a nearly fatal accident is inconscionable.
Anonymous said…
From the March 2, 2015 DOE Occurrence Reporting Summary

------------------------
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Technical Area 55

Unexpected Personal Contact with Electrical Hazardous Energy - (Significance Category 2)

On February 26, 2016, an employee received an electric shock while tracing 277-volt lighting conduit in the ceiling. The employee received a burn to his hand and was taken to occupational medicine for evaluation where he was released to return to work without restrictions. All ceiling work was paused and an extent of condition was performed. After the event, it was determined that the employee had contacted an electrical circuit.

---------------
Anonymous said…
How many electrical accidents have there been at TA-55 in the last six years? Can you say "trending bad?"
Anonymous said…
A person was hurt. Not something to mock. When Jim Leadstrom was killed in a auto accident a few years ago at LLNL, the insulting comments on this blog were its low point. They hurt his family and neices in their grief.

We, the members of the complex, send our prayers and thoughts for a rapid and complete recovery to the victim and their family.
Anonymous said…
Maybe LANL will have a confessional town hall like Livermore did and have the poor guys confess on TV the errors of their ways!!
Anonymous said…
If you look back over the past five or six years there is a bit of a trend for electrical accidents at TA-55. Thus, it would not be surprising to see that this one results in some type of contract action.
Anonymous said…
it would not be surprising to see that this one results in some type of contract action.

March 10, 2015 at 4:46 PM

It would be EXTREMELY surprising, since no other incidents; safety, security, financial, or management failures, have done so.
Anonymous said…
8:16, what do you call huge reductions in fee, loss of award terms, and a rebid on environmental work?

What sort of "contract action" are you looking for, a firing squad? The facts are bad enough. Breathless generalities only hurt your credibility.
Anonymous said…
8:16, what do you call huge reductions in fee, loss of award terms, and a rebid on environmental work?

March 13, 2015 at 1:28 PM

None of those constituted "contract action." Duh. Breathless??? Huh? Better than brainless I guess.
alia52nalie said…
Yeah that’s quite sad and I truly believe that we need to have more awareness among people. My uncle who assist a DUI lawyer was telling me that with awareness campaigns, a lot of precious lives can be saved as many people have no idea what they are putting themselves into.
thanks for giving nice information.

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