Safety Violation Charge Dismissed

An administrative law judge has overturned one of eight Cal/OSHA safety violations arising from an electrical vault explosion last July 12 that killed three Pasadena city workers.

Judge Ashaki A. Kone dismissed a charge against the Pasadena Water and Power Department for violating a rule requiring electrical workers to wear rubber gloves when working on exposed or energized electrical lines. Testimony at a Cal/OSHA hearing in West Covina indicated that the workers did not know the electrical line they were examining was still energized when the explosion occurred.

Pasadena had appealed four of the eight violations, and Cal/OSHA withdrew three of those earlier this year. Four other charges--alleging safety violations including not having a written emergency plan and not having someone on watch at the vault entrance--stand. No penalties accompany the violations because cities cannot be fined by Cal/OSHA. Since the explosion, city workers have been required to determine whether electriciy is running through cables before entering vaults, said David Plumb, general manager of Pasadena’s Water and Power Department.