By Sarah Lang/The Lebanon Reporter
Lebanon — An investigation by the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration is possible after a KB Electric employee was shocked by 440 volts of electricity on the construction site for the new Wal-Mart store Wednesday afternoon.
The unidentified 33-year-old man received the severe shock to the face after falling into an electrically charged control panel, either by slipping or by a smaller shock that caused him to fall, said Lebanon Fire Department Captain Mike Spidel.
“He somehow got into the wrong place,” Spidel said.
The man was seizing and unconscious when LFD responded, Spidel said. He was placed in a Boone County Emergency Services ambulance and taken from the work site to a Life Line helicopter that landed in the Wal-Mart parking lot.
He was sedated and paralyzed when placed in the helicopter, Spidel said, with stable vitals but grave injuries.
The employee had soft tissue injuries, including second-degree burns on his left shoulder, a burned left ear and a large laceration reaching from his forehead to cheek, possibly from the fall. He was flown to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.
IOSHA spokesman Sean Keefer said they must investigate if three or more employees are injured on the job or if there is a fatal accident. At this point, there is no investigation planned, but that may change if there is a complaint, a referral, or if the injured man dies.
Al Contreras of Mechanicsburg was in town on the way to the a mechanic when he saw the Life Line helicopter overhead. He stopped to see what was going on.
“People were practically tripping over each other,” he said. “A lot of (Wal-Mart) employees were out on the sidewalk, and people were being roped off by the cops.”
Contreras happened to have his camera with him and began taking pictures. He stopped soon after when an emotional co-worker or relative of the injured man told him that this wasn’t “a show.”
“It was a real somber environment,” Contreras said.
He was surprised to see the Life Line helicopter be completely turned off. Usually, Contreras said, they put the person in quickly and take off. But this time, the helicopter sat idle for a while.
“But they definitely weren’t fooling around,” he said.
Due to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) laws, Methodist Hospital was unable to release the man’s name. Lebanon Police did not file a report because there was no criminal activity, LPD Public Information Officer Brent Wheat said. LFD filed a medical run report, but the report does not require the department to have the man’s name, which they did not have, Spidel said.
Later Wednesday afternoon, Spidel said the man was transferred to Wishard Hospital’s burn unit in critical but stable condition.
