A 26-year-old contract worker has died after suffering an apparent electrical injury while on duty at a Southern California Edison facility in Alhambra. The worker was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
According to KTLA, the injury occurred at the Edison facility located at 501 S. Marengo Ave. Alhambra Police Department officers responded to the site around 7:10 p.m. after receiving a report of an unresponsive person following an electrical incident. Alhambra firefighters performed lifesaving measures on the worker before he was transported to the hospital.
The contractor was described only as a young man who worked for All Power Systems, as reported by NBC Los Angeles. That station reported that the Alhambra Fire Department responded to the Edison facility on South Marengo Avenue for a reported medical emergency around 7 p.m.
Edison Says It's Gathering Information
Southern California Edison confirmed it is aware of the incident. “We are aware of the incident involving a contractor working on a construction project in Alhambra and are actively gathering information about what occurred,” the utility said in a statement given to the outlet. Police are investigating the contractor's death, the same report noted.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office is handling the death investigation and has said it will release the worker's identity only after next of kin have been notified, per the station's report. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office is assisting with the investigation, and the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health has also been notified of the incident, according to KTLA's reporting. As of now, additional details about what led to the electrical incident have not been released.
Not the First Fatal Electrical Accident at an Edison Work Site
Fatal incidents involving contractors working on Edison infrastructure are not unheard of in Southern California. In 2013, 28-year-old Brandon Orozco of Whittier died after electricity suddenly began flowing through an underground vault he was working in as part of a five-person crew in Huntington Harbour, according to the Los Angeles Times. Orozco was employed by CAM Contractors, which had been hired by Southern California Edison, and rescue workers had to wait for Edison to cut power before they could enter the vault after a resulting fire was extinguished. No other injuries were reported in that earlier incident.
No such comparison has been drawn by authorities in the Alhambra case, and the precise mechanism behind this week's injury remains unknown. Investigators have not said whether the incident involved equipment similar to what was involved in the 2013 vault accident, and no cause has been determined.
