By KAREN KUCHER Standard-Examiner staff Utah Power & Light Co. is investigating why a | mechanic touched a live circuit breaker in a River-— i dale substation Friday morning, causing an explosion that seriously injured him. The explosion of the 46,000-volt circuit breaker occurred just before 9 a.m. Friday when Joseph Sattiewhite, 46, 5676 S. 1775. East in South Ogden, © touched the circuit. He was in critical condition Friday night at University of Utah Medical Center with burns over 50. percent of his body. A nursing supervisor said 30 percent of his burns were third degree. | “Apparently he climbed or moved into a circuit. breaker that was still energized,” said UP&L spokesman John Ward. “We don’t know anything | about why he was in the position he was in. All we _know 1s that he came into the field of energy.” Ward said the investigation would probably include interviewing the other five men who were at. the substation Friday and a dispatcher in Ogden. i The dispatcher 1is supposed to tell workers when the | electricity is off. : | “We'll be interviewing anyone who had a part in it to try to determine what was done and what | wasn’t done — not so much as to place blame, but. / to find out where the breakdown occurred and to | prevent a similar thing from happening in the future,” Ward said. Sattiewhite, a substation mechanic who had worked for the company for at least 15 years, was going to paint a porcelain insulator around the breaker, part of normal maintenance, said Joe Bingham, a safety specialist with the company. “ Apparently he had the idea it was dead, as near as we can tell,” Bingham said. “Clearance hadn’t been obtained from the dispatcher. It was still live. Part of it had been done, but not all of it. “All switching procedures hadn’t been completed. He must have misunderstood.” _ Bingham said the circuit carries 46,000 volts. At the time of the accident, about 25,000 volts was surging through the circuit. It was unclear which part of Sattiewhite’s body. | touched the circuit. : “He was in very bad shape. He was burnt from head to toe,” said Donnell Glynn, who lives across the street and went to the substation after iaahe, ‘the explosion. | | The five other men working at the substation were inside a nearby building when the accident occurred. ! “Those guys ain they could see (the flash) in broad daylight from the building,” Bingham saidy) “It is) just a | tremendous amount of hea aa ,