Electrocution Is Second Death This Week at Nassco Shipyard

A National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. employee was electrocuted Thursday while working on test equipment for a ship generator--the second fatality at the giant shipyard this week.

Tom Tweedie, a 29-year-old journeyman electrical specialist, received a high-voltage electrical shock about 12:15 p.m., according to Fred Hallett, Nassco vice president of finance and corporate relations.

Tweedie was treated at the scene by Nassco emergency personnel and taken to Physicians & Surgeons Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:20 p.m., according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Tweedie had worked for Nassco since 1977. He is survived by his wife and 5-year-old son, both of San Diego.

Hallett said one other person was present at the time of the accident, but “all we know is that he did not see anything.”

The ship, the Exxon Valdez, is in the final outfitting stages of construction. On Tuesday, 37-year-old Guillermo Prado was killed on the same 1,000-foot oil tanker. Prado had been removing scaffolding inside a storage tank when a 2-by-4 came loose from a bundle being lifted out by a crane. The wood fell 50 feet and hit Prado on the head.

Nassco officials and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating both accidents.

Nassco, a subsidiary of Morrison-Knudsen Co.--a multinational construction conglomerate based in Boise, Ida.--is the largest shipbuilder on the West Coast and is one of San Diego’s largest employers, with 3,800 workers.