This article was posted 05/04/2012 and is most likely outdated.

Mike Holt - Man electrocuted while changing light fixture in Amherst
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Man electrocuted while changing light fixture in Amherst

Man electrocuted while changing light fixture in Amherst

By Matt Gryta, Buffalo News

Imge

Amherst police are investigating the death of a young electrician who was electrocuted this afternoon while changing a light fixture in a building in an industrial park on Earhart Drive off Wehrle Drive.

Police Lt. Brian G. Miller said police got the call on the fatality about 2:30 p.m. and late in the afternoon were still trying to contact relatives of the victim who reportedly was 24 and has two young sons. The victim's name will not be released until his relatives are notified, Miller said.

Amherst Building Commissioner Tom Ketchum said the victim worked for a subcontractor doing work without a permit on an energy conservation program for businesses run by a Rochester-based contracting firm.

Ketchum said preliminary reports indicated the victim was changing a light fixture in a business building to make it more energy efficient and compatible with florescent lighting but apparently failed to switch off the electrical current to the fixture before beginning work.

Because the electrician was grounded and working on a "live" fixture, the electrical current went through his body, killing him, Ketchum said.

 

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Comments
  • probably 120 or 277v. someone jumping to conclusions saying electrician was "grounded"; one possible inference being that the current passed down the body to "grounded" feet, but most electricians wear insulated-sole shoes; could have been hand-to-hand, or via other body parts, maybe even hand-to-grounded ceiling structure, pipe, ductwork, conduit, etc., etc.

    wyatt  May 5 2012, 12:05 am EDT

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