Electrical – Apprentice killed working live

21 October 2015

ESV is reminding all electrical workers of the dangers of working live following the recent death of an apprentice.

The 21-year-old, third-year apprentice died last month while carrying out weekend electrical work unsupervised in the roof of an acquaintance’s house.

It appears a fault in the back of a three-pin plug base occurred where a neutral conductor had broken away from the terminal breaking the circuit.

The victim was in the process of stripping the live neutral conductor with pliers while simultaneously being in contact with earthed parts of the house when he received an electric shock.

This incident again shows the importance of never working live.

This tragedy could have been prevented if he had isolated and tested before doing any electrical work.

ESV hopes all RECs will discuss these important issues with their apprentices.