By R. Bruce Wright, CPCU
Editor's Note: All too often severe injuries or even fatalities are the result when employees of other companies, not in our business, are working in close proximity to power lines and make a mistake that brings them in contact with an energized conductor. Construction company employees of all types, building and sign maintenance workers, heavy equipment operators, and many others may find their work brings them near our lines. Unfortunately, when the outcomes are severe, oftentimes the power company winds up with a lawsuit, despite the fact that the NESC was met and the mistakes were made by the victim and/or the victim’s employer. Sometimes they even win a verdict. 
Attorney Mark Barber of the firm Hall, Booth Smith & Slover, based in Atlanta, Georgia, is an expert defense attorney who works on major cases for our program. What follows below is an excerpt from a presentation he made to a group of insurance company executives, discussing one of the defense tools available in certain states. If your state does not have a law of the type he describes you may want to see if your lobbyists can begin to put their weight behind the effort to get one enacted in your home state.
High Voltage or Overhead Power Line Acts
Many states have enacted statutes requiring notice to the electric utility prior to work being conducted near the electric lines. These statutes have various names, usually some variant of “High Voltage Safety Act” (HVSA) or “Overhead Power Line Act”. These statutes typically require persons involved in construction or other work activities within a certain vicinity of power lines to give notice to the power company ahead of time. Failure to give such notice generally insulates the power company from liability as a matter of law. In some states, there are statutes regulating the movement of cranes, derricks or other structures under electric wires and upon public highways. In these states, the failure of the equipment company to comply with these statutes may insulate the power company from liability.
While the language of the various HVSA is far from uniform among the states which have enacted it, a few general principles seem to recur. The basic framework is as follows:
Whenever an entity desires to perform work within a certain defined area near an overhead power line, the entity must first notify the electric company and make suitable arrangements to ensure that operations can be conducted in safety. The typical requirement is that the person responsible for the work must notify the utility some prescribed amount of time before working within 10 feet (or some other prescribed distance) of an uninsulated, overhead line of a certain minimum voltage (usually> 600 volts). The utility is then given some prescribed amount of time within which to make the line safe so that work can be conducted near the line. Usually, the statute includes a statement concerning which party must bear the cost of making the line safe. The line is "made safe” by either grounding the circuit, moving the line, sleeving the line with an insulator, or erecting other mechanical barriers to prevent inadvertent contact with the lines.
Most statutes provide that an entity which fails to give the proper notice required by the act can be liable to the utility in the event the lines are damaged or persons are injured. In some cases, the HVSA gives the utility a complete right of indemnity. In other cases, the statute gives the utility a complete defense to all liability. Some states hold that a utility’s right of indemnification against an employer which undertakes activities in violation of the Act may be defeated by the exclusivity provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act if WC benefits are owed to the employee injured by an overhead line. Other states have held that the exclusivity provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act will not affect a utility’s right of indemnification against an employer who violates the Act.
Editor’s note: Remember, Mark is an attorney, which explains why that last paragraph may seem a bit complicated with legal lingo. It essentially means that some states with these acts tell the injured party's Workers’ Compensation carrier to pay the claim as required by law, but forbid them from seeking reimbursement from others if the employer violated the HVSA requirements. Other states still let the WC carrier try to press a case against the power company even though their claimant is barred from doing so. So, it seems that individual states do their own thing, your results may vary, etc.