how to install power pole guy wire anchors

On March 5, 1990, a 30-year-old male journeyman lineman was electrocuted when he contacted a 7200-volt powerline while installing a guy wire. ensure that employees strictly adhere to established safe work procedures.

ensure that all energized components of an electrical system in proximity to the work area are insulated before any line work is performed.

The NIOSH investigators concluded that, in order to prevent similar occurrences, employers should:

Burn marks on the powerline indicated that the victim contacted the powerline 39 inches from the pole, 3 inches beyond the protective line hose. The victim’s clothes caught on fire, and soon afterward the powerline burned in two, breaking contact.

The supervisor was on the ground giving instructions to the groundmen when he heard an arcing sound and looked up to see the victim’s right arm in contact with the existing powerline. When the victim reached the guy wire anchor, he took an adjustable wrench from his tool bag and began to loosen the anchor nut closest to the existing powerline. The victim pulled the guy wire into the bucket and stood on it as he raised the bucket. The victim entered an insulated aerial bucket and was handed the looped end of the guy wire by the supervisor. The victim told the supervisor that he would further insulate the existing powerline after he installed the guy wire. On the day of the incident, the victim was instructed by the supervisor to place more line hoses on the existing powerline, to attach a guy wire to an anchor on the new utility pole, and to put the drag rope for the new powerline through a roller at the top of the new pole. The lineman had previously insulated the existing powerline by placing a 36-inch-long protective line hose over the powerline on each side of the utility pole. The new utility poles had been set and the crew had begun to string the new powerline.

The victim was a member of a crew that was installing a new single-phase 7200-volt powerline parallel to, and 24 inches away from, an existing energized single-phase 7200-volt powerline. A 30-year-old journeyman lineman (victim) was electrocuted when he contacted a 7200-volt powerline while installing a guy wire.

How to install power pole guy wire anchors