Fatal error: Man was using cellphone during risky task

Incident summary: A crew member who was sending text messages on his cellphone while performing a hazardous job mistakenly touched an energized electrical conduit rather than the deenergized wire he was supposed to be working on.

What happened: An electrical trainee was told to install new wiring for an overhead lighting system. He climbed a 6-foot-tall fiberglass ladder and began removing several wires. While he was doing so, he received a text message on his cellphone, so he pulled out his phone, read the text message and responded to it. Then he placed his cellphone on top of one of the lighting fixtures and resumed working.

However, because he’d been distracted by the text exchange, the 23-year-old man inadvertently grabbed a flexible conduit attached to a nearby lighting system that was still energized rather than the deenergized conduit he was supposed to be working on. He removed the insulated wire nuts and didn’t test the voltage. As soon as he touched the exposed energized wire, 277 volts of electricity surged through his body and he was knocked off the ladder.

When a nearby coworker heard the stepladder hit the ground, he raced into the room to find the apprentice motionless on the floor. The coworker administered CPR, but his efforts were in vain and, a short time later, the trainee was declared dead from electrical shock.

Findings: The victim shouldn’t have had the opportunity to be distracted by his cellphone during the risky task. The employer should’ve had a no-cellphone policy that required workers to turn off their phones, put them in airplane mode, or give them to a supervisor to hold until the end of the workday.

(From the June 1, 2026, issue of Safety Alert for Supervisors. To start your no-obligation trial subscription to the publication right now, please click here.)