The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has issued a $4.5 million Staff Citation to Southern California Edison (SCE) for a 2018 incident that resulted in a fatality.
In January 2018, an SCE contract worker was fatally injured while attempting to transfer a de-energized 115 kV overhead conductor from a lattice transmission tower to a new steel pole when an energized 220 kV circuit parallel to the conductor induced on the de-energized conductor and led to the worker's fatal injuries.
The CPUC's Safety and Enforcement Division's investigation into the incident identified that SCE violated CPUC General Order 95, Rule 31.1 for allowing the contractor, HWI, to proceed with work on a Tier-1 transmission project without meeting three requirements of SCE's Contractor Safety Management Standard. CPUC General Order 95, Rule 31.1 requires utilities to design and maintain their conductors and insulators safety and adequately.
Under the CPUC's Staff Citation program, SCE has 30 days to pay the fine and make the corrective actions or request a hearing.
The CPUC’s Safety and Enforcement Division (SED) has staff-level authority to issue Citations to
regulated natural gas and electric companies for violation of CPUC codes and regulations. Safety
violations are identified through SED’s ongoing audits, inspections, and investigations; by the utilities
themselves through mandatory disclosure requirements; or through the CPUC’s whistleblower program
for anonymous and protected reporting of violations.
