DEATH OF ELECTRICIAN

Taranaki Daily News, 10 September 1934, Page 3

DEATH OF ELECTRICIAN

FALL FROM 20-FOOT LADDER CAUSE NOT SHOWN BY EVIDENCE. ACCIDENT ON TIKORANGI FARM. An inquest was held at New Plymouth on Saturday on. John Milton Butcher, aged 34, Stratford, a married employee of the Taranaki Electric Power Board who died on Wednesday as the result of a fall from a power pole at Tikorangi. The verdict of the district coroner (Mr. W. H. Woodward) was that Butcher'died in an ambulance en ■ route' to the New Plymouth hospital, the cause of death being a fracture of the skull* received in a fall while working on the farm of Mr. D. D. Griffiths, Tikorangi. Whether the fall was caused by the slipping of the ladder or the receipt of an electric shock the evidence did not show, said the coroner. . ■ Mr. B. H. Goldsmith, who watched the board’s interests at the inquest, said Butcher had been a most careful and trustworthy man and would take no undue risks. Mr. A. Coleman represented the relatives at the proceedings, which were conducted by Sergeant S. G. Clist. Dr. D. E. Brown, who attended Butcher, said that on his arrival at Tikorangi he found that Butcher had a depressed fracture of the skull. He was in a serious condition. The ambulance arrived at 5.15 p.m. Butcher gradually became weaker and died in the ambulance on . its way to hospital. This was at 5.50 p.m. Butcher had apparently fallen from a ladder propped against a power pole 18 to 20 feet high- The head. injury was probably due to Butcher having hit a post in the yard at the foot of the ladder. Sergeant Clist: Was there any evidence r. of Butcher having received , a burn from an electric shock?—l found none. .. It would be difficult to place the ladder in a secure position because of ffie conformation of the yard, the proximity of the pole to the shed and the fences adjoining, said Dr. Brown. Garnet Raymond Prentice, inspector for the Taranaki Electric Power Board, said he went to the scene of the .accident on Thursday. Three of the wires, were alive and one dead. The conclusion to be drawn from this was that one wire had been completed. The next, operation was to insulate another wire. In his opinion the ladder had slipped and Butcher had lost his balance. It was possible to have received an electric shock and show no visible sign of it This may have happened had Butcher been using pliers and these had come in contact with a live wire. To Sergeant Clist, Prentice said the more likely of the two explanations possible for the accident was Butcher had lost his balance on the. ladder and fallen to the ground. Butcher was a careful man. , Mr. Coleman: Was it necessary to have the wires alive? —It is usual to liven up the wires on the way to the job and connect the installation to the service line while the wires are. alive. IS IT DANGEROUS? The coroner: Is that not a dangerous practice?—lt might sound so but it is not on a wooden ladder. There would have to be a conductor to the earth.. A man on a wooden ladder at that height could touch a live wire without receiving a shock. David Dixon Griffiths, farmer, Tikorangi, said Butcher at the time of the accident was on a ladder connecting electricity to his milking machine. His attention was attracted and he saw Butcher strike the ground, bounce and strike the ground a second time. He called to an employee who went to assistance. The ladder was .resting against the 20ft. iron upright pole. He noticed that after Butcher fell the top of the ladder was out of position in that one end was resting against a stay attached to , : the main pole at one erid and to the wooden cross-arm at the other. ? The other end of the ladder was swinging clear of any support and in this position would cause the man to overbalance and fall to the ground. Where Butcher fell to the ground there was a wooden upright post on the left side and an iron drum on the right. ■‘When Butcher was on the ground his legs were on the concrete floor of the cowyard and his head at the bottom of the ladder, to the side where the iron drum was standing. He had no exact idea what caused Butcher ♦ to fall. *■

John Noble Drury, electrician employed by J. B. McEwan and Co., New Ply-, mouth, said he was installing a. motor in the engine room, attached to Griffiths’ cowshed when the accident happened. He could not state how Butcher’s fall was caused. There could be two reasons, namely, receiving an electric shock, or the top of the ladder slipping when against the iron pole. The bottom of the ladder did not slip. There were no marks of blood on the post or drum. Constable J. A. Tocher said the pole Butcher was working on was an bld railway rail. The pole was known as the terminal and the line attached to the cross-arm carried 230 volts, sufficient to give a severe shock. Constable L. E. W. Mitchell gave evi-< dence.