SAN FRANCISCO–The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) fined Southern California Edison (SCE) $2.010 million for a September 30, 2013, incident at its Huntington Beach underground vault.
The incident resulted in the death of an employee of SCE’s subcontractor, who had inadvertently removed an energized dead-break elbow while he was preparing the underground cables for testing.
The CPUC’s Safety and Enforcement Division investigated the incident and alleged that SCE delegated its safety responsibilities to its contractor in violation of CPUC decisions and California law, and that SCE failed to ensure that its contractor and subcontractor performed their work safely. Today’s fine approves a settlement agreement between the Safety and Enforcement Division and SCE
“SCE took steps to create a series of enhancements to its safety practices and procedures prior to the CPUC opening the penalty consideration case that was concluded today,” Said Commissioner Liane Randolph, the Commissioner assigned to the proceeding. “This is the type of action that all of our utilities should take immediately following any kind of incident. By waiting for a formal CPUC proceeding to be opened or even a CPUC decision regarding an incident, more lives and property are put at risk. Though the CPUC may require additional measures, I hope that we continue to see our utilities being proactive and reforming practices and procedures on their own accord.”
Brandon Orozco, an employee of CAM Contractors, was fatally injured when he inadvertently removed an energized dead-break elbow while working in a Southern California Edison Company (SCE) underground vault in Huntington Beach.
At the time of the accident, SCE had a contract with PAR Electrical Contractors Inc. (PAR) as its contractor. In turn, PAR had subcontracted a portion of its SCE contracted work to CAM. SCE reported the Accident to the Commission’s Safety and Enforcement Division (SED) on September 30, 2013.
The SED engineer promptly responded to the accident site and began the necessary on-site field investigation. On October 11, 2013, SCE provided SED its supplemental incident report in compliance with Decision (D.) Appendix B. Immediately following the Accident, SCE initiated its own investigation of the Accident and voluntarily instituted several safety enhancements to its procedures and practices, which is further discussed in Section 1.3 of this decision.
