Electric Arc Burns Technician at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

A contractor's electrician working at SLAC suffered serious burns on Monday, October 11, while installing a breaker switch next to a live 480-Volt electrical panel in the Klystron Gallery of the linear accelerator. An electrical arc, described as a "fireball" by the co-workers who rescued him, ignited the electrician's clothing, causing 2nd and 3rd degree burns over 60% of his body. As of today, a week following the accident, the worker's condition has been upgraded from critical to serious, and is sufficiently stable to remove him from a ventilator.
In an all-hands meeting the day after the accident, SLAC Director Jonathan Dorfan told the lab workforce: "We are at a turning point in the life of our laboratory and now is the time for change. The safety culture at SLAC must improve. There is no alternative." Dorfan exhorted each employee to "deliberate with the utmost seriousness what we can do to identify, root out, and change any behavior or process that could be unsafe."
A DOE Type A investigation team has been assembled and begins its investigation of the incident today at SLAC. All work activities have been suspended since the accident, and will resume only after the completion of several well-defined steps designed to raise the safety consciousness of the entire workforce. Some work, such as electrical work, and hoisting and rigging, will be suspended indefinitely. In a memorandum distributed on Monday, October 18, Dorfan told the SLAC workforce that he took the "extraordinary step of turning off the accelerators indefinitely to allow us to focus all our energies on one imperative: SAFETY. Safety comes first: No questions! Safety is something that all of us must value above all."
Fermilab Director Michael Witherell joined Dorfan in sending wishes for a speedy recovery to the wife and family of the injured worker. "We will not know exactly what happened until the investigation is complete," Witherell said. But in the interim, he added, "this incident serves as a reminder that much of the work we do is hazardous. To avoid accidents, we need to continue and even improve the practices that we know work: careful planning, appropriate training, protective equipment, and approved procedures. We simply can't afford to become complacent."
Source : Fermilab Today