Date of incident: June 2022
Notice of incident number: 2022197930013
Employer: Window-cleaning company

Incident summary
At a four-storey condominium building, a worker was cleaning exterior windows using an extended water-fed pole. The pole inadvertently flexed and contacted a high-voltage overhead power line. The worker received an electric shock and sustained serious injuries.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• Extended water-fed pole breached limit of approach. The worker unknowingly breached the limit of approach for a high-voltage power line as the extended water-fed pole he was using flexed over and behind him and contacted the power line.

Contributing factors

• Ineffective hazard assessment. The employer had cleaned windows at this property before the incident. The crew at the time of the incident — three workers — were provided with a job sheet that contained general hazards to look out for, but not current site-specific hazards. Their supervisor did not list the overhead power lines in front of the building (which were not on the property or attached to the building) as a hazard on the job sheet. The workers walked around the buildings to split the workload and inspect for hazards but were not aware that they should consider the overhead power lines to be a hazard when using an extended water-fed pole to reach the windows.
• Inadequate work process. The employer did not have a documented safe work procedure. The workers were each equipped only with hand tools, a ladder, and an extendable water-fed pole to complete the work. Using the pole in the front of the building while it was extended breached the limit of approach for the high-voltage power lines; any inadvertent movement could mean that the pole would contact the power lines. A second worker was not being used to avoid any inadvertent movement of the extended pole while the first worker moved it. The work process created a risk of electric shock for workers because no clear direction and instruction were provided in relation to inadvertent movement of the extended water-fed poles.
• Inadequate supervision. The supervisor was not at the worksite to inform the workers that the overhead power lines could be a hazard when using the water-fed poles, and did not list current site-specific hazards on the job sheet. The workers were left to decide on their own what a hazard at that worksite would be and were not adequately trained to determine that using an extended water-fed pole near power lines would be breaching the limit of approach and putting them in a potentially dangerous situation.

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