SAN DIEGO -- State Compensation Insurance Fund and the California Public Utility Safety Alliance will jointly sponsor a safety seminar, “Contractor Beware: Safety around Overhead and Underground Gas and Electric Lines,” on March 15 in San Diego. The seminar is specifically designed for agricultural and construction industry contractors and employees who work in and around gas and power lines. The seminar will be conducted in both Spanish and English.

Every year, contractors and other workers in the construction and agricultural trades are killed or injured on the job because of contact with underground and overhead utilities—specifically natural gas and electric lines. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), electrocutions from contact with overhead power lines result in an average of 128 work-related fatalities each year. The National Agricultural Safety Database reports that more than 60 electrocutions per year occur on farms. In addition, striking an underground gas line can cause an explosion that can kill or injure workers and others in the area. Locating and identifying these hazards in advance can help save lives, but workers also need to follow specific safety procedures in order to prevent death and serious injury.
 
Featured speakers at the seminar are: Paul Diaz, State Fund Senior Loss Control Consultant, and Charles Basham, Manager of Public Safety for Southern California Edison (SCE).

“The seminar will explain the risks involved when working around overhead electrical and underground gas lines, and demonstrate the steps companies and individuals should take to avoid costly or tragic mistakes. The seminar will also address what to do if an accident does occur at the worksite,” says State Fund’s Paul Diaz.

The State Fund seminar is supported by a coalition of public utility companies: Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, City of Anaheim, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, California Public Utilities Commission - Utilities Safety & Reliability Branch, San Diego Gas and Electric, Southern California Gas Company, and IID Energy, a division of Imperial Irrigation District. The event is sponsored by the Western Regional Master Builders Association, Golden State Builders Exchanges, and the California Farm Bureau Federation.

The San Diego seminar is part of a series of educational programs State Compensation Insurance Fund is holding throughout the state in order to help employers create safe workplaces. State Fund has the largest safety and health services program among California workers’ compensation insurance carriers.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Established by the California Legislature in 1914, San Francisco-based State Compensation Insurance Fund is a self-supporting, nonprofit, fairly competitive public enterprise that provides workers’ compensation insurance coverage at cost to California employers.