A journeyman lineman with Marshall Municipal Utilities in Missouri was airlifted to a hospital after he suffered an arc flash injury on the job on June 8, according to the Marshall News.

The journeyman, who has been identified as Randy Beasley, had been on a utility pole where the company was switching out circuits. General Manager Kyle Gibbs stated the line he was working on was not live; however there are multiple lines in that area. A safety officer and other officials were looking into the situation.

Gibbs explained an arc flash is different from an electrocution, but said Beasley did suffer first-, second- and third-degree burns over his upper body.

“If you get a piece of steel, between a neutral and a hot, it creates a bunch of heat, and the worker was burned over the upper part of his body,” Gibbs said. “He had some burns on his face, his shoulder and his chest, but he was not electrocuted.”

“Management is going to do an investigation to see how it happened and how to prevent it from happening in the future,” Gibbs said. “It’s serious, and we’re taking it seriously.”

Source: www.marshallnews.com