While changing an overhead ballast in a light fixture, an employee of New Jersey Medical Center received an electrical shock that caused him to fall from a ladder. He was hospitalized and died several weeks later from the injuries he sustained in the fall.
While investigating the June 28, 2016 accident, OSHA found that the company required employees to change ballasts without the proper lockout/tagout training on practices and procedures necessary to disable machinery or equipment to prevent hazardous energy release, as well as other safety hazards and related unsafe practices.
The company was issued for those and for failing to:
- ensure de-energized circuits were locked out
- maintain an electrical lockout/tagout program
- ensure that only qualified persons worked on live circuits
- provide personal protective equipment, and
- ensure workers did not work on live parts
"This worker's tragic death was preventable,” said Kris Hoffman, director of OSHA's Parsippany Area Office. “Jersey City Medical Center did not have basic lockout/tagout safeguards in place to prevent exposure to electrical hazards, and failed to train its maintenance workers on these safeguards.”
Proposed penalties are $174,593.
