TECO employee dies after line shock

Tampa Electric Lineman Electrocution underscores workplace safety risks for utility workers near high-voltage power lines, OSHA compliance, bucket trucks, emergency response, and incident investigations following fatal shocks in Tampa field operations in Florida.

The Tampa Electric Co. lineman who was shocked June 7 has died.

John Hudson, 39, worked 19 years for Tampa Electric. He died the following night at Tampa General Hospital, a spokesman said.

"He was working hard to service our customers," said Rick Morera, a Tampa Electric spokesman who often shares storm readiness tips with the public. "It was just a terrible tragedy and terrible loss."

Police and firefighters responded to Dona Michelle Drive and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard about 10:20 a.m., a scene similar to a power line shock death described in another case, and found Hudson lying on the ground.

Hudson had been working on an electrical line from an insulated bucket truck when his body came in contact with the 7,620-volt power line, police said then. The shock caused severe burns to his body.

Co-workers lowered him to the ground and began CPR until Fire Rescue workers arrived and took him to the hospital.

Morera said the last time a Tampa Electric employee was killed while on duty was in 2004, when a tree limb struck an employee making repairs after Hurricane Frances, and the utility later earned Tree Line USA certification for its vegetation management efforts.

In 2008, 35 people were killed across the country while installing and repairing electrical power lines, including fallen power line deaths that drew national attention, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"It's an unforgiving environment that they work in," Morera said. "We're doing a complete review and analysis of what happened."

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