The Window Cleaners Socks + Orinda Electric Fine

33,000-volt jolt: Staten Islander's incredible story of survival: STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - As he lay on the ground, feet smoldering, boots singed, holes burned through his white cotton socks, the first thought that went through Nick Genovese’s head was "Don’t die." Some 33,000 volts of electricity had just surged through the Oakwood window washer’s body, after the 40-foot metal washing pole he was holding with his partner made contact with power lines outside an office building in Lynbrook, L.I. "The wind caught it and we seemed to lose a little balance," Genovese said. "I felt the electric shock going through me." "I felt like I was getting fried," added Genovese, 58, the father of two teenage daughters. "The jolt knocked me to the ground. I felt my hands and my feet starting to burn." He never lost consciousness, he said, and he was aware of his surroundings the whole time. It was like something out of a cartoon, he said, his body shaking like the animated characters Tom and Jerry when their tails got stuck in a socket. "It went in my hands and out my feet," Genovese said. "The electricity came out my socks and boots."
His partner, Alan Weinberg, 64, was holding tighter to the pole and was critically injured. Weinberg "passed away at the scene," according to Genovese. It took 20 minutes for emergency responders to revive Weinberg, and he remains hospitalized. Genovese suffered-third degree burns of his feet and between his thumbs and index fingers, where he had grasped the pole with his hands, which were covered with insulated rubber gloves. "His feet actually went on fire in the boots," said his wife, Joann Genovese. After the accident, Genovese called his wife from his bed in Nassau County Medical Center’s East Meadow Burn Unit. "I have a problem," he said over the phone. Her thoughts automatically ran to car crash, she said. "I got electrocuted," he told her. "You got what?!" she responded in disbelief.
Curious to learn just how lucky he’d been to survive such a shock, Genovese did some research on the Internet. "I survived 11 times the voltage of the electric chair," he said, after his search showed a typical chair carries about 3,000 volts. Genovese said he has been told he’s not out of the woods yet and will have to be checked out by a neurologist, cardiologist and ophthalmologist to make sure the electricity didn’t cause any internal damage. Now under the care of Dr. Michael Cooper at Staten Island University Hospital’s burn unit, Genovese is expected to learn today if he’ll need skin-graft surgery, or be left to heal on his own.
In the window-washing business for 41 years, Genovese works for the New York Racing Association, and was working with Weinberg as a side job to make extra money for Christmas. Despite his ordeal, he’s going right back to work when he recovers, he said. Genovese was never particularly religious, he said, but he told a news reporter that after he has recovered, "I’m going back to church." A nun in the hospital who had read his quote in an article about his ordeal approached him and said, "I hope you keep your word. He’s watching you up there." "I know I’m blessed in more ways than one," Genovese said. "I’ve got good friends, a great family, a loving wife and two beautiful children. I’m just looking to heal and get better." When he was discharged last week, a nurse told him, "Go home and evaluate your life, because you are here for a purpose." "I don’t know what my purpose is yet," he said, reflecting on the accident from the comfort of his living room recliner. "I’m just blessed, and happy to be alive and to be home." Last Blog on this story here.

Santa Clara company fined over Orinda window cleaning accident: A Santa Clara-based window washing company has been fined $17,550 after an Orinda electrical accident that injured two of their employees, one fatally. The state Department of Occupational Safety and Health issued three citations Friday against the Delta Window Cleaning Company stemming from the June 5 accident. Jose Herrera and Eduardo Guerra were severely burned when the bucket of their cherry picker came into contact with high-voltage transmission lines over downtown Orinda. Herrera died of his injuries nearly three weeks later. The most serious citation says Herrera and Guerra came within one foot of the power lines despite regulations mandating they be at least 13 feet away. See the story that broke here.

Water Fed Pole - Man Electrocuted in Canada

Victoria, B.C. Canada - A window washer was hospitalized Tuesday after the metal pole he was using touched a live power line. “The electricity transferred right through the rod that he was carrying,” said Victoria police Sgt. Grant Hamilton.

He said the man was on the ground and using an extension device about 10:50 a.m. to reach the top windows at the Royal Scot Hotel & Suites on Quebec Street, about half a block from the legislature. He was working for an independent contractor.

Two hotel workers in the area saw what was happening and ran to help, Hamilton said. “They dragged him out of harm’s way because the brush and the pole were still sparking, there was arcing. They immediately started CPR because he wasn’t breathing. “The quick action and quick thinking on their part could quite possibly have saved his life.”

The man, in his early 60s, was taken to Royal Jubilee Hospital, Hamilton said. At last report he was listed in critical condition in the intensive-care unit. Emergency crews responding to the incident were joined by B.C. Hydro, which shut down power. The road was blocked for about an hour. “There are several layers of review and investigation that initiate now,” Hamilton said.

Megan Johnston of WorkSafe B.C. said her agency is looking into the circumstances of what took place. She described the extender the window washer was using as a 10.5-metre-long tool that has water running through it. “It appears that he lost control of the pole and it hit a 120-volt power line that was running to a streetlight,” Johnston said.

Tucker Pole?

Window washer in hospital after being electrocuted on the job: A window-washer is in hospital after being electrocuted on the job Tuesday morning. Philip Howe, owner of ACME Building Maintenance, was washing the windows of the Royal Scot Hotel on Quebec Street near the Inner Harbour when his 30-foot metal window-washing wand touched electrical lines.
At this point it is unsure if he suffered cardiac arrest before losing control of the wand or if touching his wand to the electrical line caused the cardiac arrest. When firefighters arrived, a person on the scene was trying to resuscitate Howe. “We were dispatched for a medical aid for a window washer that was injured and while en-route we were told there was a possibility of wires down,” said acting Lieutenant Oscar Pohl of the Victoria Fire Department . “When we arrived we found what we perceived to be an apparent electrocution. You could see his window-washing wand had contacted the lines and he was down on the ground and people were performing CPR.”
BC Hydro was called to the scene where they de-energized the line. Howe was then taken to Royal Jubilee Hospital. “We are not too sure if it was electrocution, or if he had a heart attack and dropped his pole which made it look like it was an electrocution,” ACME manager Jean-Paul Meek said. “He is breathing in hospital by himself with the help of some devices, but he is not conscious yet.” Howe was an experienced window washer and the company has been in his family for over 46 years.