Background
What happened
Whilst carrying out maintenance on High Voltage equipment on a windfarm in the North of Scotland, a flashover occurred which resulted in serious injury to a contractor.
Natural Power were delivering management services on the project.
The team on site administered first aid to the casualty and enacted the site’s Emergency Response Procedure (ERP), paramedics arrived by air ambulance and casualty was air-lifted to hospital for treatment.
Next steps
We are working with all parties involved including the Health and Safety Executive to better understand the cause of the incident and prevent any form of re-occurrence, however early indications are that an error occurred onsite that resulted in the contractor being exposed to a live HV conductor.
Following the incident, a series of immediate measures were put in place that we are confident will prevent any recurrence, in addition we are reviewing all internal procedures to identify where any improvements may be necessary.
Lessons learned
This incident highlights the dangers whilst working on HV apparatus and the importance of following all procedures and safe systems of work in place.
Remember, in line with Natural Power stop work authority, if any part of a task is not as expected or has changed from the original method statement then STOP ALL WORKS and contact your line manager.
Report all occurrences on site, this includes unsafe acts, conditions and any near misses, by doing this you are letting the business know that there may be areas that may need further attention and as such we can potentially prevent an incident from happening