In June 2009, a Pennsylvania woman was in her backyard when a power line carrying 7,200 volts of electricity unexpectedly fell on her. She died from the resulting electrocution, and her family is filing a wrongful death suit against Allegheny Energy, which merged with FirstEnergy in early 2011.

At the heart of this wrongful death suit is the cleaning practices employed by Allegheny Energy workers to properly maintain their power lines. Conductors on these power lines connect to telephone poles and oxides can build up on these conductors, potentially overheat and then eat through the power lines, causing them to fall from the pole.

The manufacturers of these conductors say that only a wire brush will properly clean the oxides off of a power line. However, the attorney for the family of the deceased says he discovered a training program that taught Allegheny Energy workers to clean the conductors with knives or pliers, in addition to wire brushes. According to employees from the conductor's manufacturer, the power line involved in this wrongful death case was not cleaned properly.

The lawsuit brought by the deceased woman's family claims wrongful death, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The suit was filed back in 2009 after the incident occurred, and the attorney representing the family has called on the Public Utilities Commission to check other power lines across the state that have been under the watch of Allegheny Energy and FirstEnergy.

If Allegheny Energy was indeed training its employees negligent methods for cleaning their power lines, many Pennsylvania residents could be at risk of eroding power lines. There are standards that must be met by companies to minimize unsafe conditions and ensure public safety, and those who are injured because of a breach of these standards deserve to be compensated.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "PUC asked to investigate power lines in Irwin death," Erich Schwartzel, Jan. 17, 2012