June 21, 2013

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Friday, June 21, 2013

Man airlifted after electrocution out of hospital SARAH SIMPSON CITIZEN

Less than 24 hours after an electric shock estimated at about 14,000 volts coursed through his body 20-year-old Kenton Forbes was released from hospital. The electrocution occurred while the young man was working on the deconstruction of the Chemainus River Bridge on Tuesday. “I just seized up. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything,” Forbes told CTV on Wednesday. WorkSafeBC spokeswoman Ally Skinner-Reynolds said Forbes had been standing next to a crane on the bridge when the incident occurred about 2:15 p.m. Part of the deconstruction process involved the placement of what’s called a bridge panel, a platform that crews work from while removing an old span and rebuilding a new one, she said. “They were bringing in the bridge panel using a crane and the crane came in contact with a high-voltage power line,” Skinner-Reynolds confirmed. “It looks like there was a young worker who had his hand on the bridge panel, I guess he was guiding it into place, and so of course the current went from the power line, down the crane and to the bridge panel and gave this young worker an electric shock.” North Cowichan/ Duncan RCMP Cpl. Greg Pask told media that the Forbes was initially unconscious. “I guess I was out for a half hour then I came to and the paramedics came,” Forbes told CTV. Pask said Forbes was transferred to Victoria General Hospital and was conscious and breathing

Emergency workers load a 20-year-old man into a medevac helicopter on Tuesday after he was electrocuted. The man has already been treated for the highvoltage shock and released from hospital. [KEVIN ROTHBAUER/CITIZEN] when he left on air ambulance. Forbes was released just hours later, seemingly no worse for the wear. “Its kind of a miracle is what I’ve been told,” Forbes said. Pask said the victim’s father was also at the scene working when the incident occurred.

“I understand it was a bit of a family operation,” he said, noting the North Cowichan/ Duncan RCMP victim’s services unit had been made available to the family. Investigation into why the incident happened is still underway. “He has been released from the

hospital but our fatal and serious investigations team is still investigating just because of the high potential for serious injury,” Skinner-Reynolds said. “We want to find out what went wrong there. Regulations limit how close equipment may be to functioning

power lines, she noted. “It’s called limits of approach and there is a 10-foot rule, so equipment can’t be within 10 feet. We’ll also be looking at the training and education that was given to the workers and a coordination with the electrical contract crew that was on site.”

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June 21, 2013 by Cowichan Valley Citizen - Issuu