On May 23rd, IEEE (PI)² Austin hosted a Technical Meeting: Anatomy of an Accident

James Mercier, PE retired from TXDOT, described the investigation of an electrocution of a woman caused by faulty engineering and inspection of underground street crosswalk redesign and electric facilities, that cased a woman’s death.

On Thursday morning, January 7, 1999, a woman walking to work died on the sidewalk in front of UTSA downtown San Antonio.  The cause was ruled as electrocution from an energized metal lid in the sidewalk.  The resultant investigation revealed a lack of final inspection on the original work and many problems with subsequent work.  Enough that San Antonio’s Central Power Supply (CPS) and others paid out a combined $6.4M.  James Mercier, who was at that time an engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation, will present and discuss the various errors discovered from his investigation for TxDOT and in the court records.

The underground electric needed to be modified when the curbs at the crosswalks were modified for wheelchair access. As a result of the new slope of the ramps the underground electrical facilities needed to be reworked. The electric work, completed by a different contractor than the original work, was not properly designed, insulated, grounded off or inspected.

The ensuing court cases resulted in multi-million dollar settlements by the modifying electric contractor. Engineers need to set projects up with the right inspections and quality control practices to proved proper safety to the public. And it doesn’t pay in the end to go with the cheapest contract, especially without proper inspections.