The existing pole was sawed off a few feet above the ground. In a proper
design, the incoming and outgoing telephone cables and the anchored guys
are supposed to keep the cut off pole in a balanced position. In this case,
however, the cables had been attached to the wrong side of the pole and the
guys were attached too low and did not properly bisect the angle between
incoming and outgoing cables. As a result of the unanticipated forces, the
sawed off pole started to move and pushed a member of the work crew against
the rear wheel of a utility truck causing severe injuries.
Scene overview and stages of the accident:
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| Web size (76K) | Web size (59K) |
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| Web size (67K) | Web size (69K) |
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Load a video showing the accident simulation: QuickTime (577K) or MPEG (359K) |
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