Incident date: 2017-09-20
NAICS industry code: 221122

An employee was ascending a pole to make electrical repairs after a hurricane when his climbing gaff (the nail of the climbing hooks that go into the pole) struck a metal washer in the wooden pole, causing him to hit his jaw on the wooden pole. The back of his neck was then punctured by a wooden splinter on the pole. He hung about 25 feet in the air with his fall arrest system. He was hospitalized.

Hazard classification:
code_event: title: Fall or jump curtailed by personal fall arrest system
code_source: title: Utility and telephone poles
code_nature: title: Puncture wounds, except gunshot wounds
code_body: title: Neck, except internal location of diseases or disorders
severity: moderate