Allegheny County Courthouse
PITTSBURGH – A New Jersey man who suffered fourth-degree burns while performing electrical work in a live transformer is suing West Penn Power Company and FirstEnergy over his injuries.
Said Barrios-Cortez filed suit last week in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, alleging crew working near St. Agnes Church in Irwin had complained about being required to work near and inside an energized transformer.
There were no protective measures taken either, like barriers or insulating covers, the suit says, and Barrios-Cortez says he wasn’t even qualified to perform electrical work. But he was tasked with feeding fish tape through the transformer and into a conduit.
“When he lost his balance,” the suit says, “Mr. Barrios-Cortez’s right shoulder came into contact with the exposed energized conductors inside the transformer, causing him to be horrifically electrocuted.
“The contact with the energized conductors caused Mr. Barrios-Cortez to be electrocuted and to sustain catastrophic burn injuries, requiring emergency treatment, hospitalization, surgery to both shoulders, skin grafting, and ongoing medical care.”
The defendants are charged with failing to ensure work performed in high-voltage electrical facilities was done safely. Specifically, pad-mounted transformers should have been de-energized for non-utility workers like Barrios-Cortez, energized conductors should have been insulated or barricaded and warning signs should have been posted.
As a result of his electrocution, Barrios-Cortez suffered second-, third- and fourth-degree burns to his chest, shoulders and arms that resulted in skin-grafting procedures that left him with “diminished sensation,” the suit says. Diabetes has impaired his healing, and he still suffers from nerve damage and neuropathic pain, he says.
Mentally, Barrios-Cortez blames the defendants for depression, humiliation and loss of life’s pleasures. Financially, he has suffered the loss of earnings and hospital expenses, the suit says.
“Defendants directed and permitted Plaintiff, an unqualified underground utility laborer, to perform conduit work inside an open, energized transformer with exposed high voltage conductors, rather than de-energizing the transformer, sending qualified utility personnel to perform or supervise the work, or requiring that the work be performed only after the energized conductors had been safely insulated, guarded, or barricaded,” the suit says.
Jeffrey Goodman and others at Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky represent the plaintiff.
