Gurnee Contractor Critically Shocked After Metal Rod Hits Live ComEd Line

A contractor in his mid-to-late 20s is fighting for his life after accidentally touching a live Commonwealth Edison power line with a metal rod while measuring cable lines outside a home on the 3600 block of Country Club Avenue in Gurnee, Illinois, Monday morning. A neighbor reportedly saw a bright spark and initially thought it was a lightning strike before realizing something had gone terribly wrong and calling 911.

The Gurnee Fire Department said the man was measuring cable lines outside the home when he made contact with the main ComEd cable line, according to CBS Chicago. Local outlet Lake and McHenry County Scanner reported that the contractor was using a metal measuring rod when it made contact with the overhead line, triggering the shock.

Gurnee police officers were first on scene and began performing CPR on the man before fire department personnel arrived, per the same account. Battalion Chief Tim Steffens said crews were dispatched around 10:58 a.m. and found the contractor unconscious and not breathing, with paramedics continuing resuscitation efforts inside the ambulance. Officials have not specified whether the man was a worker or a resident of the home, though fire officials described him as measuring cable lines at the property.

Power Cut, Victim Rushed to Trauma Center

First responders requested an expedited response from ComEd crews to secure power at the scene following the shock, the report notes. The man suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan in critical condition.

Vista Medical Center East operates as a Level II Trauma Center, a designation the Illinois Department of Public Health fully restored in March 2024 after a brief revocation earlier that year, according to CBS News Chicago. The facility is equipped to handle severe, life-threatening injuries like those the contractor sustained.

Overhead Lines a Persistent Workplace Hazard

Contact with overhead power lines causes roughly 38% to 40% of all electrically related workplace fatalities nationwide, according to data compiled by the Electrical Safety Foundation International. The same organization found that 2,070 occupational fatalities were caused by electrical contact between 2011 and 2024, with construction workers sustaining the highest toll at 907 deaths.```

Federal rules under OSHA 29 CFR 1910.333(c)(3) require electrically unqualified workers and any conductive objects they carry to stay at least 10 feet from overhead power lines carrying 50 kilovolts or less. ComEd's own safety guidance instructs outdoor workers and contractors to treat every power line as energized, avoid conductive tools near overhead wires, and use dedicated spotters during work near electrical infrastructure. Whether those precautions were followed on Country Club Avenue has not been addressed by officials.

Bureau of Labor Statistics figures cited in July 2026 show construction and extraction workers suffered 1,032 fatal workplace injuries in 2024, with the industry's fatal injury rate of 9.2 deaths per 100,000 full-time workers running nearly three times the national average across all industries. The Gurnee case also follows another local tragedy: in July, a 22-year-old Gurnee resident working as a contracted worker died in a suburban sewer line accident where ComEd crews were likewise called to disconnect power, according to local press coverage relayed on Facebook.

No further details on the contractor's condition or the results of any forthcoming utility or workplace safety investigation have been released.