An electric co-op worker examines the power line above a home construction site where a construction worker was killed. Credit: CBS 6 TVIn what investigators are calling a “freak accident,” a young construction worker was killed earlier this week after being electrocuted in Amelia County, Virginia.
According to a report from CBS 6 TV, 24-year-old William Brice Seay was securing metal straps “around rafters so the crane operator could put the rafters on top of a home.” CBS 6 reports that the straps somehow came in contact with a power line above the jobsite which had 14,400 volts flowing through them.
Seay was unresponsive at the site and died from his injuries while be transported to the hospital.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires workers to stay at least 10 feet away from overhead power lines with up to a 50,000-volt current.
Electrocution is the fourth leading cause of construction fatalities in the U.S. The accident comes exactly one week after a worker in Seattle died from electrocution while moving utility lines.
