Unfortunately, despite all of the advances in safety technology and procedures, severe accidents still occur on construction sites throughout the country. Even workers who are simply effecting repairs are occasionally injured. This post will go over one construction worker’s injury and how he was injured.

A construction worker, working on the electrical wiring at Mt. Lebanon High School was severely adversely affected by an arc flash. An arc flash is a type of electrical burn that is scorching. It usually occurs in the context of industrial accidents, welding accidents. But in this case, the construction worker was working on the main power line to the school, which carried 23,000 volts.

Usually, workers are given special gloves and masks when they handle tools that could result in an arc flash, like a welder’s mask and heavy duty gloves. Here, it is not clear if this worker was operating under the same stringent safety procedures.

He was severely injured and taken to the nearby hospital for electrocution burn treatments. The accident caused sufficient damage to require the school to close down this past Monday to effect repairs However other schools and neighborhoods remained open.

Were you injured on the job? If you were, you might want to contact a workers’ compensation attorney for assistance. As you can see, even the safest and most experienced workers can be seriously injured or even electrocuted on the job. A workers’ compensation attorney can help ensure that you receive the compensation you deserve for your injuries. The last thing that you or your family needs is delayed payments because of an error on the forms. Additionally, if your claim is denied, a lawyer can represent you and argue your case before the board.

Source: Pittsburgh-Post Gazette, “Electrical accident injures worker, cancels Monday classes at Mt. Lebanon High,” Adam Smeltz, December 11, 2016