Was out of work in Sacramento and got a call from an old friend that owned a company that did business in central California. He needed a guy to cover Monterey. Took the job without question.
It turned out I was replacing a man that had been killed on the job, �Mike.� Mike answered a overtime call a two stop Tri County Elevator. The problem was a bad leveling inductor. The leveling and slow down inductor are mounted to a can that had a light fixture mounted the hinged cover. He opened the cover and was reaching around the can to replace the inductor. The hinged door that had open 120VAC terminals for the light swung closed and the 120VAC terminal touched his wire framed glasses. His left arm was wrapped around the can and completely grounded. He died shortly thereafter. As the hours passed his wife became concerned and called the answering service to see if they knew his last location. They informed her that his last call was over on Cass Street. The other route man �Don� was called and he went to the building. Upon arrival Don looked thru the door gap and saw car top light was on and Mike�s green shirt. Before doing anything he called 911 and then picked the lock opened the door. He checked Mike and there was nothing he could do. The Paramedics arrived and pronounced Mike dead at the scene. Mike left a large family.
The lawsuits followed and it was determined that it was just an accident. Harold did shield the exposed on the exposed circuitry on new installations. He also paid Mike�s wife a years wages which added to the added to the �Workers Comp� settlement.
