Electrocuted welder working on a hot day, inquest hears

Welder Joshua Farrell was hot and in a tight work area, struggling to repair a large metal bin when he was electrocuted by his soldering rod, an inquest into his death heard Monday.

“The steel might have been a little more corroded, causing him grief,” testified co-worker Phillip Wiersma, who later discovered Farrell with an electrode protruding from his neck and unresponsive.

Farrell, 29, was killed on June 25, 2014 at the Carmeuse Ltd. lime quarry off Highway 5 in Flamborough, near Ofield Road South.

He was an employee of Rassaun Steel and Manufacturing in Simcoe, which had been contracted to reinforce large metal coal bins used at the quarry. Farrell was fusing metal plates to the outside of a bin.

Wiersma testified it was a very hot day and he went to check Farrell and the two other welders on the job that afternoon.

“I noticed he was leaning against the beam,” he said of Farrell.

Wiersma said he hollered at him but didn’t get a response.

“As I got closer, I gave him a shake on the shoulder. There was no response. I knew at that point there was something wrong.”

Pathologist Dr. John Fernandes, who did the autopsy on Farrell, testified the hot electrode, or welding rod, penetrated Farrell’s neck, sending its electrical current down his body and across his heart before exiting through his lower right leg just above his safety boots.

“The current stopped his heart,” Fernandes said. “Death would have been instantaneous.”

Fernandes also testified Farrell had a very small amount of THC, a chemical found in marijuana, in his blood, and that it was taken a few hours before his death.

There was no evidence presented at the inquest that the marijuana caused any impairment.

Fernandes said tests showed that dehydration was not a factor either.

Wiersma also testified the crew of seven or eight men had started the day with their regular daily safety talk at the job site and talked about the heat.

“We talked about taking a lot of breaks, that we weren’t going to push things that day.”

Coroner’s counsel Kevin McKenna mentioned the “tight, cramped space” Farrell was working in during his opening remarks earlier to the inquest jury.

In some spots, the space was as narrow as 26 inches (66 centimetres), he said.

Wiersma said Farrell was able to get to his work area with a series of ladders and that the cable carrying electricity to Farrell’s soldering rod was 60 feet long (18.2 metres).

The inquest, which is mandatory in this case, will look into how the death happened and allows the jury to make recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.

Death would have been instanteous. PATHOLOGIST DR. JOHN FERNANDES