SANTA ANA/SAN FRANCISCO -- State Compensation Insurance Fund and the California Utility Public Safety Alliance will sponsor a free seminar ‘Contractor Beware: Safety around Overhead and Underground Gas and Electric Lines’ to be held in Santa Ana on July 18th. The seminar is specifically designed to target the construction industry.

Each year, contractors and other workers are injured or killed in the workplace due to contact with underground and overhead utilities – specifically natural gas and/or electric lines. Overhead lines can be electric, telephone or cable television. Electricity from such line will flow through a number of contacts including metal, water and the human body. If a worker or the equipment they are using comes into contact with an overhead electric line, a shock can occur. A strong electrical shock can cause severe burns or even death. Even a mild shock can make muscles contract and cause a worker to fall from the elevation they are working from.

Similar to overhead lines, underground lines can also be electric, telephone or cable television and also includes natural gas. Striking a buried gas pipe can create an explosion hazard; hitting an electric line can cause power outages and can shock or kill equipment operators. Under California law, contractors who do not protect underground facilities during excavations may be held financially liable for damages.

Seminar speakers will include Charles Basham, Manager of Public Safety, Southern California Edison (SCE).

The seminar will focus on explaining the risk involved when working around overhead and underground gas and electric lines; how to avoid making costly mistakes that can lead to death or injury as well as financial liability and what to do if an accident does occur on the worksite.

The seminar is scheduled from 9:00 am - 10:00 am at State Fund’s Santa Ana District Office located at 1750 E. Fourth Street, Santa Ana. To register by phone, please call Marisol Medina at 714/ 565.5992 or you can email Ms. Medina at mmedina@scif.com.

State Fund is partnering with the California Utility Public Safety Alliance with support 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.

Additional seminars in this series of educational programs are also available.

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.