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Missing Safety Gear Puts MSEB Workers in Nagpur at Daily Risk

Missing Safety Gear Puts MSEB Workers in Nagpur at Daily Risk
Missing Safety Gear Puts MSEB Workers in Nagpur at Daily Risk

Nagpur district’s electricity workers face daily hazards due to missing safety equipment on the job. In Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, multiple incidents over the past decade reveal a troubling gap between official safety requirements and on-ground reality.


This report investigates the legally mandated gear for Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB, now MSEDCL) field staff, the failure to actually provide this equipment in Nagpur city and its rural areas, and the accidents directly resulting from this lapse.


Mandatory Safety Gear for Electrical Workers


Electrical maintenance work is inherently dangerous, so stringent safety norms are in place on paper. Regulations and company manuals mandate a full set of personal protective equipment (PPE) for linemen and related staff.


According to the MSEB and MSEDCL safety manuals and protocols, every field worker must be equipped with insulated rubber gloves, safety shoes or boots, a hard hat or helmet, and a safety belt or harness when working at heights.

Other required tools include proper ladders, strong ropes or lifelines, voltage testers, and portable earthing rods to ground lines before maintenance.


These items are not optional and are considered the minimum safety kit for anyone handling live wires or climbing electric poles.


Company rules reinforce that using safety gear is compulsory. In fact, MSEDCL’s employee conduct regulations list neglecting to use safety equipment or to abide by safety instructions as an act of misconduct subject to disciplinary action.


In principle, a lineman should never scale a pole without a strapped harness, nor handle live cables without high-voltage insulating gloves and boots.


The standard issue kit also includes flame-resistant overalls, face shields for arc protection, and raincoats for monsoon work. These protocols exist to prevent exactly the kind of accidents frequently seen in the field.


Safety experts note that these measures parallel international norms. MSEDCL’s own training department has published safety booklets in Marathi and English, illustrating proper use of helmets, gloves, belts, and other gear.

In short, the official policy framework is clear. Frontline electricity workers must be provided with and must use proper protective gear at all times.



Documented Gaps in Equipment Supply


Despite the strict guidelines, evidence from Nagpur district shows that many MSEB and MSEDCL workers have not been getting the mandated safety equipment in practice.


Investigative reports and audits point to a systemic failure in the distribution of safety gear to field staff, especially those on contracts. Until recently, requisitioning basic protective tools was a slow, bureaucratic process.

An internal review acknowledged that the previous paper-based system for issuing safety kits led to extensive delays and shortages. In June 2025, MSEDCL launched a new online module called the T and P Register to streamline and track the provision of safety gear such as rubber gloves, gumboots, safety belts, raincoats, testers and other tools to all technical employees.


This move came after years of complaints that essential gear was often out of stock or never reached the linemen on the ground.


Nagpur’s own media outlets have uncovered multiple instances of workers operating without any protective kits. In January 2023, a local report highlighted a shocking scene in the city’s Mohan Nagar area. An electrical repair crew was working atop poles with no gloves, no helmets, no safety shoes, and no harnesses in use.


Residents looking on were alarmed that neither the workers nor the public below were being safeguarded. The work zone was not even barricaded to keep people away from the live wires. Such negligence was described as playing with the lives of workers as well as citizens, since any slip or accidental contact with the live line could have turned fatal. The episode suggested that basic gear, which should have been issued, was absent at the site, and safety procedures were ignored by both contractors and supervisory staff.


Contract workers appear most affected by gear shortages. MSEDCL increasingly relies on private contractors for field operations, and several incidents indicate these contractors fail to supply safety kits. In one 2024 case, a 32-year-old lineman in New Kamptee fell to his death from a live pole.


He was an outsourced worker and had no proper safety materials provided by the contractor. Co-workers confirmed that items such as insulated gloves or a safety belt were not issued to him. Such contractual arrangements cover vacant lineman posts, but accountability for safety often slips through the cracks. The electricity company frequently points to contractors, while contractors cut costs by reducing expenditure on safety equipment. The result is technicians left to work with bare hands and improvised tools.


Trade unions representing electricity workers have repeatedly flagged this gap. Union leaders argue that many line staff lack even basic safety equipment intended to prevent electrocution and falls, particularly rubber gloves and safety belts.


They point out that even when safety gear is procured, distribution remains uneven and monitoring is weak.

Until the digital tracking system was introduced, rural linemen in Vidarbha often waited months for replacements of worn or damaged protective equipment. Some audits have also noted that contract workers are sometimes sent into the field without adequate training and without the required safety gear, leaving them exposed to high-risk situations from their first day on the job.


Accidents Attributed to Missing Gear


Between 2015 and 2025, Nagpur district recorded numerous accidents in which the absence of proper safety gear directly led to injuries and fatalities among power sector workers.


These cases provide clear examples of how routine tasks can become fatal when basic protective equipment is missing.

In July 2017, in a village near Jalalkheda in rural Nagpur, two young contract workers were sent to inspect an agricultural electricity meter. One of them, a 22-year-old worker, was checking the meter with bare hands and without insulated gloves. A fault or leakage caused a powerful electric shock, leaving him stuck to the live meter. His colleague attempted to pull him away without any protective equipment and was also thrown back by the current.


Villagers intervened and cut the power supply, but the first worker collapsed and later died from electrocution, while the second suffered serious injuries. Reports later noted that neither worker had been supplied with protective gloves or given basic instructions on how to respond to electrical leakage. The lack of insulated gloves and rescue tools directly contributed to the fatal outcome. The incident triggered protests in the village, with residents holding the electricity department responsible for sending workers into dangerous conditions without protection.


Another fatal incident occurred in May 2024 in the Ranala area of New Kamptee. A 32-year-old contract lineman was assigned to repair an overhead line fault. He climbed the electric pole using a ladder but was not secured by a safety belt or harness. He also lacked insulated gloves and boots. During the repair, a sudden backflow of current shocked him, causing him to lose balance and fall from a significant height. He sustained severe injuries and was declared dead on arrival at a hospital. Preliminary findings indicated multiple safety failures, including lack of grounding and the contractor’s failure to provide safety equipment. A proper harness could have prevented the fall, while insulated gear might have prevented the electrocution.


In September 2025, another fatal accident took place in the Sakkardara area of Nagpur city. A 34-year-old contract lineman was repairing an overhead AB switch jumper during heavy monsoon conditions. Due to waterlogging, the workers used a makeshift wooden platform tied with rope instead of standard safety equipment. The worker was not secured with a certified harness. While working at height, he lost balance and fell from the pole, suffering fatal injuries. He was pronounced dead at a government hospital. Police registered an accidental death case and began examining whether safety lapses contributed to the incident. Co-workers stated that proper fall-arrest equipment was not provided at the site, forcing them to rely on unsafe improvisation.


These cases are part of a wider pattern. Across Vidarbha, repeated investigations into electrocution and fall-related deaths have pointed to missing or inadequate safety gear as a central factor.

Data from Maharashtra over recent years show thousands of electrocution cases, many involving maintenance workers. In several incidents, post-accident reviews noted worn-out gloves, missing helmets, or the absence of safety belts. Each fatality followed a similar trajectory. A worker was sent to fix a fault without adequate protection, an unexpected electrical or physical hazard occurred, and the lack of safety gear turned the incident deadly.



Negligence and Consequences in Vidarbha


The recurring accidents in Nagpur and across Vidarbha highlight an entrenched pattern of negligence in enforcing safety standards.


In rural areas, especially, communities have openly accused the electricity distribution system of failing to protect its workers.

After the 2017 Jalalkheda incident, villagers held the electricity department responsible, arguing that the young worker was sent into danger without gloves or training. Public protests forced officials to visit the village and announce compensation. While such compensation offers temporary relief to families, it does not address the underlying failures that led to the death.


Union representatives continue to state that these incidents reflect management failures rather than unavoidable mishaps. They argue that workers often raise concerns about missing safety gear but are instructed to proceed with work to restore power quickly. Public statements following fatal accidents have repeatedly noted that workers were operating without gloves, helmets, or safety belts at the time of death. Calls for accountability and proper investigations have grown louder, especially in cases involving contract workers.


Within MSEDCL, senior management has acknowledged the need to strengthen safety compliance. The introduction of the T and P Register system was presented as a step toward ensuring real-time tracking of safety equipment distribution and replacement.


While some workers in Nagpur divisions report improvements in access to safety gear, others caution that effective implementation and strict monitoring are still uneven. Without consistent enforcement and clear responsibility for contractor compliance, the risk remains.


Legal consequences for safety lapses have been limited. Police investigations are often initiated after fatal accidents, but prosecutions related to failure to provide safety gear remain rare. This lack of accountability has contributed to the persistence of unsafe practices.

For workers and their families in Vidarbha, each assignment without proper protective equipment carries a serious risk. The deaths recorded over the past decade illustrate how the absence of basic safety gear continues to claim lives during routine electrical maintenance.


References


About the Author

The NewsDirt is a trusted source for authentic, ground-level journalism, highlighting the daily struggles, public issues, history, and local stories from Vidarbha’s cities, towns, and villages. Committed to amplifying voices often ignored by mainstream media, we bring you reliable, factual, and impactful reporting from Vidarbha’s grassroots.

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