Railway worker saves colleague from electrocution by using plank of wood

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Mirror:

Workman saves his pal from electrocution by HITTING him with a plank of wood

Mark Bradley, 50, was struck by a reported 11,000-volt shock when a metal lamppost he was installing hit overhead power cables


Saved: A workman saved his pal by hitting him with a plank of wood

A workman saved a pal from electrocution by hitting him with a plank of wood.

Mark Bradley, 50, was struck by a reported 11,000-volt shock when a metal lamppost he was installing hit overhead power cables.

Ade Savage desperately tried to free him by pulling and punching him ^ but suffered shocks himself. So he grabbed the plank and hit Mark until he broke the grip of the current.

Wood is an insulator of electricity, meaning electrical current does not pass through it so Ade was no longer affected by the electric shock.

Mark, a dad of one, from Gosport, Hants, was taken to hospital with burns to his face and arms and blood coming from his ears. He is being transferred to a specialist burns unit in Swansea.

Mark^s brother Michael paid tribute to Ade, saying: ^The man is a hero. He saved my brother^s life.^

Ade was also treated for burns after the accident at a Network Rail site in ^Basingstoke. An ^investigation is being carried out.

BAM Construction said: "We can confirm there was an accident on our Basingstoke site late on Monday afternoon, where we are working for Network Rail. We deeply regret that this has happened, and our thoughts are with those affected. "

[ChrisB]

Hmmm, that's why trees are so often split asunder by lightning strikes.

Wood is a very poor conductor if electricity, but not a total insulator

[JayMac]

Dry wood is a relatively good insulator. A dry plank of wood, which may have been cured and oven dried is very good at insulating against high voltages.

A tree can conduct a lightning strike. If it's very damp on the outside surfaces from rainfall the lightning can flash over the outside to earth leaving the tree unharmed. If relatively dry on the outside the water and sap within can be turned to steam very quickly and this is what causes the explosive force. Either way you don't want to be anywhere near trees during an electrical storm.

[stuving]

The main issue in this case is going to be why any power distribution cables were still there above a building site, and energised. The design & access statement for this site, as approved by Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council, says they are to be removed. That is standard practice; these cables are pretty close to the ground, so OK for fields or some open spaces but not for any kind of building.

As an example of how low and accessible they are, there was an 11 kV line across the field behind my house in Bo'ness. It was replaced by an underground cable just after I left, over 20 years ago, after which a crop of little houses was planted. Not long before that we lost power one Sunday afternoon, and when I went out to look for it I found this young teenage lad who was desperately trying to find someone to confess to. He'd been out with his dog, throwing a stick for it, and the stick had landed on the overhead line. There was a big flash and a loud bang, one of the cables parted and fell to the ground, where it sizzled for a short while before being isolated.

[ellendune]

Also a sign of the state of the NHS - there is a burns unit at Salisbury (As I recall) and I am sure there must be at least one in London.  Swansea seems a very long way from Basingstoke.

[stuving]

I wonder, what is the picture in that Mirror article? They credit the Basingstoke Gazette, who ran the original on Tuesday 17th, and so does Rail Technology Magazine on the Mirror's words. But the Gazette article now has a library picture of the Gresley Road site, and while the file name in the Mirror picture's URL is "PAY-Construction-work-at-Network-Rails-new-signalling-hub-and-training-centre-Basingstoke.jpg", it's obviously not the right place.

[paul7575]

I wonder, what is the picture in that Mirror article?

I believe that's the almost complete ROC^▸ (Rail Operating Centre - a centralised location for railway signalling and train control operations for a specific route or region) building.   It isn't that visible from passing trains, especially from the Reading line, but the Mirror's picture is definitely what you can see from the ring road as it crosses over the main line just east of the site.  (Google street view shows the steelwork skelton.) Perhaps the Basingstoke paper has changed the image because the accident did not occur near the main building, but elsewhere on the site?

But on the face of it this isn't really a 'railway' accident at all, (which is not intended in any way to ignore the severity of the man's injuries).

Paul

[stuving]

I believe that's the almost complete ROC^▸ (Rail Operating Centre - a centralised location for railway signalling and train control operations for a specific route or region) building.   It isn't that visible from passing trains, especially from the Reading line, but the Mirror's picture is definitely what you can see from the ring road as it crosses over the main line just east of the site.  (Google street view shows the steelwork skelton.) Perhaps the Basingstoke paper has changed the image because the accident did not occur near the main building, but elsewhere on the site?

OK, I didn't realise they had got that far. And it doesn't look much like the architects' pictures. Incidentally, it will hold not just just the ROC but also a Route Office and training centre (together with the welding school and play-track by the railway).

Some of the plans show a pair of power lines (33 kV, I suspect) along the east side of the site, above the end of the car park. But only one pylon, in the corner, is shown as being retained, so it's not clear if it was to go underground. If not, the design and construction planning should of course take account of its presence.

[Electric train]

But on the face of it this isn't really a 'railway' accident at all, (which is not intended in any way to ignore the severity of the man's injuries).

Paul

It is an accident reportable through the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) and not the HSE^▸ (Health and Safety Executive) as it is a Railway Construction Site the F10 notification is through the ORR

[stuving]

It is an accident reportable through the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) and not the HSE^▸ (Health and Safety Executive) as it is a Railway Construction Site the F10 notification is through the ORR

I'd be surprised by that, as I can't see any reason for that site to qualify as "operational railway". The Basingstoke Gazette article was pretty specific in its quotes, too:

A Health and Safety Executive spokesman confirmed it had been informed of the incident and was ^making enquiries^.

A Network Rail spokesman said: "A contractor working on Network Rail's new control centre in Basingstoke was injured yesterday afternoon while working on the site, managed by BAM Construction.

"An investigation will be carried out and the Health and Safety Executive has been informed. Our thoughts are with him and his family."

[Electric train]

That would also surprise me as normally the HSE^▸ (Health and Safety Executive) don't like dealing with anything railways and NR^» (Network Rail - home page) is also geared up to deal with the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) on safety related matters, however this site may have been deemed "Greenfield"

[ellendune]

That would also surprise me as normally the HSE^▸ (Health and Safety Executive) don't like dealing with anything railways and NR^» (Network Rail - home page) is also geared up to deal with the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) on safety related matters....

...but BAM Construction, who would have had the duty to report the incident, would be geared up to deal with HSE.

[stuving]

That would also surprise me as normally the HSE^▸ (Health and Safety Executive) don't like dealing with anything railways and NR^» (Network Rail - home page) is also geared up to deal with the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) on safety related matters....

...but BAM Construction, who would have had the duty to report the incident, would be geared up to deal with HSE.

In practice ORR and HSE cooperate administratively, and the on-line F10 notification system is now shared. In terms of "who regulates what" the demarcation line was clarified in 2008 (in the The Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority for Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems) (Amendment) Regulations 2008), and work on non-operational railway land put on the HSE side. I think ORR will only take over for "operation railway", meaning where there are railway-specific hazards.

[Electric train]

That would also surprise me as normally the HSE^▸ (Health and Safety Executive) don't like dealing with anything railways and NR^» (Network Rail - home page) is also geared up to deal with the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) on safety related matters....

...but BAM Construction, who would have had the duty to report the incident, would be geared up to deal with HSE.

In practice ORR and HSE cooperate administratively, and the on-line F10 notification system is now shared. In terms of "who regulates what" the demarcation line was clarified in 2008 (in the The Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority for Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems) (Amendment) Regulations 2008), and work on non-operational railway land put on the HSE side. I think ORR will only take over for "operation railway", meaning where there are railway-specific hazards.

Thanks Sturving for clarifying ................... I don't get involved in the F10's that's as an engineer I leave that stuff to the Project Managers 

Any way this is a very serious incident striking a buried cable the HSE (and ORR) want to know why striking an overhead powerline you cannot even use the excuse the "Cat Scan" did not detect it.