Film crew member injured on electrical platform

(Canadian OH&S News)

A man working on a film suffered an electrical shock and was sent to the hospital on Aug. 6, after getting trapped on an electrical platform at a Calgary construction site.

According to a press statement from the Calgary Fire Department, the crew was shooting a video when two workers became trapped on a platform three storeys above the ground. “Apparently, the three men were part of a film crew who were working on a time-lapse video of a construction site adjacent to the platform and were unaware of the electrical hazard,” the press release read.

Firefighters were dispatched to the site at about 11:30 p.m., by which time one of the trapped crew members had received an electric shock that injured his foot. Both men remained conscious and alert throughout the entire ordeal, the release added.

The two men were told to stay put until technicians from Enmax Corporation, Alberta’s main electricity and gas supplier, had checked that the power had been turned off, and then the fire crew retrieved the two men using an aerial ladder truck. After both were examined by Emergency Medical Services, the one with the injured foot was treated for electrical burns at the hospital.

“The incident did not cause any other damage,” the statement added, “and the power lines have since been reenergized.”

Doris Kaufmann, Enmax’s senior media relations advisor, confirmed that Enmax had been contacted by 911 and shut off the power after the fire department had requested for them to do so.

“Certainly, we could have shut the power off in that area ahead of time, had we been advised by the crew in question,” Kaufmann said, “but we were not aware of the fact that they were going to be close to any sort of electrical contact areas.”