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In the tree care industry, electrocution is the number one cause of employee death. But even for contractors who do not work in trees, electricity can pose a serious threat from making direct and indirect contact with both above- and below-ground electrical wires.

Electrical hazards come in a variety of forms. The most obvious is having direct contact with a high-voltage wire, but even touching a low-voltage wire can be deadly given the right set of circumstances. Slightly less obvious, but equally dangerous, is making indirect contact. Examples of indirect contact include touching a truck or a chain-link fence onto which an electrical wire has fallen as well as making contact with an energized line when lowering a tree branch.

Electricity is not only dangerous, but it is also unforgiving. Yes, there are stories of people who have survived an electrocution incident, but there are far more stories in which contact with electricity has been fatal. Electricity can also be deceiving. Although we generally do not consider wood to be a good conductor of electricity, people have been electrocuted by touching a tree that has been electrified by an energized line. The conditions had to be right to conduct the electricity — wet lines and tree — but it can and does happen.

It is better to be safe than sorry. Here are some important safety guidelines for working around electricity:

• Understanding electricity should be an essential part of any landscape contractor’s safety awareness training program. If it is not already, make it part of yours. The Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA) has an excellent training program to get you started.
• Before doing any digging, call the area’s utility locator service. Making this call will help ensure that your crews avoid contact with an underground electrical wire and will also help you avoid a liability claim caused by cutting into a communication or gas utility line. Cutting a line can be enormously expensive and can leave you open to lawsuits from people whose service was disrupted.
• When working around electricity, enforce the 10-foot rule. If your employees are not trained and certified to work around electricity, they should stay 10 feet away from any wire. That means, for example, if they are working in a tree with a pole pruner, they should keep the farthest end of the tool 10 feet from the nearest wire. 
• Before initiating a job, point out to crew members the electrical hazards during your initial review of a site’s potential safety hazards and other issues.
• Electrical lines that run through trees can be hard to see from the ground — a good rule of thumb is to assume that EVERY tree has a wire running through it until you can prove that is not the case.
• Since water is an effective conductor of electricity, never work in proximity to wires during a rain.
• Leave tree work near wires to professional arborists.
• Never use aluminum ladders, pole saws, or pruners near wires.
• Look for wires in every direction, especially up.

Typically, when you look up at a pole that carries communication and electricity lines, the higher the wire, the more voltage it carries (the lowest wire may belong to a phone or cable service). Of the wires that carry electricity, the top wire will most likely be the “hottest,” but lower wires that spur off to carry electricity to various locations will also be dangerous and should be avoided. All lines must be considered dangerous and energized until you have the proper training to distinguish the various wires.

Electricity has to be considered one of the great discoveries of the modern era. Imagine what the world would be like without it. But for people who do not understand it or fully appreciate how dangerous it can be, electricity poses a real threat. Even people trained to work around electricity can make mistakes and pay the consequences. Do not take the risk that electricity will give you or your employees a second chance. Make sure all your employees are trained to identify and avoid electrical hazards and to stay away from electricity entirely if they lack a complete understanding of it.

7/04

By Rod Dickens, ALCA Contributing Writer