City technician recovering in hospital after electric shock
Spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the injured technician is being monitored after he was airlifted to Milpark Hospital, Johannesburg on June 18.
The incident occurred during restoration efforts following a widespread outage that affected several suburbs in the east on June 16.
The outage was linked to a trip at the Wapadrand Substation. Technicians were deployed the next day and traced the issue to a cable fault.
However, while the team was conducting tests to pinpoint the fault, one of the electricians suffered an electric shock and sustained burn injuries.
The substation transformer also tripped again.
Emergency services were called immediately, and the injured worker was stabilised on site before being transported to hospital for further care.
MMC for Utility Services Frans Boshielo, accompanied by senior managers, visited the technician on June 18.
Boshielo said the visit was to assess the situation and give support to the family.
'Our technician was unfortunately injured by electrical equipment whilst on duty,' he explained.
Boshielo said they met with the family at the hospital, who said they appreciated the presence of the city's officials.
'While it's still early to give any comment about his condition, we were nonetheless assured of the best care possible that is being afforded to him,' he said.
Boshielo expressed his appreciation to the staff at Milpark and the family.
'In the meantime, we must allow him time to recover and to keep our colleague and his family in all our prayers.'
He added that as the Energy and Electricity Department, they were anguished by the incident and wished their colleague a speedy recovery.
'We wish to inform our staff who need counselling to inform their managers so that they can be assisted as soon as possible. Safety of our employees is of importance, and we will comply with the OHS Act, Act no 85 of 1993 requirements.'
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