Utility and Telecom Line Workers

Electric linemen, cable splicers, substation technicians, gas distribution workers, water and wastewater operators, telecom and fiber technicians, and utility construction crews.

Arc flash is four injuries at once

And it is rated as four separate impairments, combined — which is why arc flash cases are so frequently under-rated.

The thermal burn, rated under the skin chapter in five classes driven by the effect on activities of daily living. Severe burns are on the § 4656(c)(3) list — 240 weeks of temporary disability instead of 104, worth up to about $240,000. Burn injuries.

The blast. Acoustic trauma and barotrauma from the pressure wave. Hearing loss.

The brain injury. Concussive force plus, in an electrical injury, direct neurological effects. And here the Guides use only the single most severe of four cerebral categories and discard the other three — which is why formal neuropsychological testing is the highest-value action in these cases. Traumatic brain injury.

And the psychiatric injury, which in a burn or blast case is not incidental. "Severe burn" is one of the four examples the Legislature named in § 4660.1(c)(2)(B) — and the statute reads "a catastrophic injury, including, but not limited to, loss of a limb, paralysis, severe burn, or severe head injury," so the four are illustrative, not a closed list — which lifts the ordinary bar on adding psychiatric impairment to the rating. How that works.

Electrical injury also produces delayed neurological and cardiac effects that appear well after the event and are frequently never connected back to it.

The rest of the work

Falls — poles, towers, ladders, and aerial lifts. Brain injury. · Spinal cord injury.

Trench collapse and excavation. An unshored trench where the employer knew the requirement is close to the center of a § 4553 serious and willful petition — one-half more, paid by the employer personally, twelve-month deadline. How.

Confined space — vaults, manholes, tanks, and lift stations. Asphyxiation, hydrogen sulfide in wastewater work, and chemical exposure. Chemical exposure.

Struck-by — traffic on roadside work, equipment, and falling material.

Asbestos and lead, in older infrastructure, conduit, and cable. Latency runs 20 to 50 years and § 5412 starts the clock at first disability plus knowledge. Asbestos claims.

Noise and vibration, from equipment and tools.

Heat, in vaults, attics, crawlspaces, and on roadway work. Heat illness.

And cumulative trauma — shoulders from overhead work, backs from cable and equipment handling, knees from climbing, and hands from tools and vibration. How cumulative trauma works.