Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services

Enterprise (Nov 07/05) - Investigations continue into the deaths of two men at a worksite accident in Enterprise.

Richard Martin Sanderson, 43, and Dennis Robert Thurber, 35, were electrocuted on Oct. 28 while installing a new communications tower for SSI Micro, an Internet provider.

The accident is being investigated by the Workers Compensation Board, Human Resources and Development Canada, the RCMP and the coroner.

Thurber and Sanderson had only been on the job for a few months, but they had set up similar towers in sites around the NWT and Nunavut, said Ryan Walker, a spokesperson for SSI Micro. Walker was unable to comment on the training workers receive before installing towers.

Electrocutions are "a common occurrence," said Bruce Graney, the WCB's chief safety officer in the NWT.

This is the only incident Graney can remember in the eight years he's been in the North, but said similar events happen across Canada.

Industries that work with power have safe work practices concerning the limits of approach to energy.

The guidelines suggest safe distances that should be kept from electricity sources. Graney was unable to say if the two men had this training.

The length of time the WCB investigation will take is undetermined, said Tanya Fraser, a communications officer with the WCB.

The deaths occurred when the metal tower the men were installing came in contact with hydro lines at the site.

The 14,400 volts of electricity ran through the tower, the two workers and the loader that was being used, said Duane Morgan the manager of Northland Utilities in Hay River.

A third man at the scene was uninjured because he stayed in the loader, said Morgan.

Rubber tires provide insulation for a short period of time.

Electricity travelling through the tires heats up the steel belts and the rubber, Morgan said. The back tire of the loader eventually gave out and flattened.

A Northland Utilities lineman was dispatched to the scene after a call from Enterprise came to the Hay River office at 2:50 p.m. The lineman opened isolation switches and installed grounding cables before giving verbal clearance to emergency crews at the site.

Funeral services for Sanderson and Thurber were held in Fort Providence on Nov. 8.