Even veteran electricians can benefit from a few safety reminders when it comes to working around high-voltage. For that matter, non-electricians can benefit, too.

About 140 construction workers are killed by contact with electricity every year, and in about 90 of those deaths the victims are non-electricians. The vast majority of all those fatalities are due to contact with overhead lines.

Many construction workers, especially those who work with heavy equipment, are not oriented toward potential dangers associated with power lines, said Gary Coleman, a program coordinator with the Construction Safety Council. And the lack of safety respect for overhead power lines can be a fatal error.

"On a construction site, there are power lines everywhere, above ground and underground," Coleman said, as quoted in the Construction Labor Report. "This is a constant hazard, and unfortunately and all to often there are contacts. In many cases, the effects are devastating."

Talking to a group at the 12th annual meeting of the Annual Construction Safety and Health Conference in Chicago, Coleman added, "it may not be human nature to look up for hazards, but you need to. Avoid contacts at all costs."

Following are some facts and figures about electrocutions that can help you become more aware of your surroundings:

• About half of all power line contacts occur while construction workers are operating heavy equipment. About 20 percent take place in material handling situations, about 13 percent involve ladders.
• Overhead lines are visible if you look up - but if you're not sure if your employer has contacted your local utility about buried cable, remind them to get an area marked with flags before you excavate.
• "The number of people who believe that normal household current is not lethal or that powerlines are insulated and do not pose a hazard is alarming," said researcher Virgil Casini, in a report for the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. "Electrocutions may result from contact with an object as seemingly innocuous as a broken light bulb or as lethal as an overhead powerline, and have affected workers since the first electrical fatality was recorded in France in 1879 when a stage carpenter was killed by an alternating current of 250 volts."
• For an electrocution death to occur, Casini said, the human body must become part of an active electrical circuit having a current capable of over-stimulating the nervous system or causing damage to internal organs. The extent of injuries received depends on the current's magnitude (measured in amps), the pathway of the current through the body, and the duration of current flow through the body. The resulting damage to the human body and the emergency medical treatment ultimately determine the outcome of the energy exchange
• According to the Center to Protect Workers Rights, OSHA regulations call for workers to keep their equipment at least 10 feet away from 50 kilovolt overhead lines - and more than 35 feet from lines carrying a greater voltage. Of course, workers also have to be aware of the maximum boom of their equipment in order to stay clear of the lines.
• There are high- and low-tech devices available to keep equipment out of contact with power lines. Proximity devices can be attached to booms and make audible warnings when they're too close. Booms can be insulated. Flags can be attached to wires to increase visibility. And wires can and should be de-energized or moved when there's a risk of electrocution.
• Electrical arc flashes were a special topic at the safety and health conference. A panel discussion entitled "Electrical Arc Flashes and Unexpected Explosions" described the power of electrical explosions and the risk electricians take each day on the job.

Many electricians, the panelists said, are satisfied to work without adequate safety protections. One IBEW instructor said many electricians have adopted a "cowboy mentality" that embraces dangers like working on live wires and dismissing safety precautions.

"There's a perception out in the electrical field that suggests if you haven't been shocked today you're not working," said IBEW instructor William Habel, as quoted in the Construction Labor Report. "But this is absurd. Let's do away with these unsafe assumptions and work together to create safer working conditions."