Powering danger: Three lives lost in electrical incidents

NESC adherence to improve safety
ECB reports three deaths over the year up to March.
Augetto Graig
  • 2 Days Ago

Between March 2025 and March 2026, the Electricity Control Board (ECB) of Namibia recorded the loss of three lives due to electricity-related incidents.

ECB statistics indicate that one of the deceased was a minor. One of the fatalities involved an electrical employee, while the other two were members of the public. In addition, eight injuries were reported to the ECB during the same period.

However, at the recently held 15th annual Association of Electricity Distribution Utilities (AEDU) Technical Conference in Swakopmund, Northern Regional Electricity Distributor (NORED) executive Mirjam Kondjeni Iipumbu reported that five community members died due to illegal connections, long-tail wiring, working under power lines, and non-functional leakage devices over the period under review. She noted an improvement compared to the previous year, which recorded nine fatalities.

The ECB has developed the Namibia Electricity Safety Code (NESC) and is also working on the Namibia Electricity Supply Industry Safety Awareness Framework. The NESC is already applied across the electricity supply industry in Namibia, governing minimum safety standards for the operation, maintenance, construction, and installation of power systems.

The ECB has also implemented several measures to enforce safety regulations, including thorough investigations of electrical accidents and issuing directives to licensees to address root causes and prevent future occurrences.

One such directive, issued in March 2025, banned live-line work, enforced stricter inspection of illegal connections, and required monthly safety reports from NORED. At the time, 17 electrical accidents and eight fatalities had been recorded over the previous four years, with seven incidents in NORED’s operational area resulting in five deaths.


Near misses

At the March 2026 technical conference, NamPower engineer and safety expert Saarti Shaalukeni reported a near miss in which a utility worker received an electric shock while replacing glass disc insulators on the Otjikoto–Rundu 132 kV line. “The cause was probably lightning somewhere along the line, as the investigation showed no working earth was applied. We now send strong reminders to apply for working earths,” she said.

Leon Hanekom, manager for technical services at Oshakati Premier Electric (OPE), reported a generally positive safety record, despite near misses, including two incidents where rotting electricity poles collapsed onto customer structures. He noted that improved training of temporary employees has contributed to enhanced safety.

For Erongo RED, safety, health, environment and well-being specialist Yvonne Nghilumbwa reported one lost-time injury in January, when a crimping tool unexpectedly touched a live cable, burning both hands of a technician. He recovered in hospital over two weeks and has since returned to work. She also reported that an electrical assistant came into contact with a live wire at a kiosk in June last year.

Senior health, safety and environment officer for Cenored, Zibiso Mavuna, also reported a relatively safe year, particularly for employees. “We had an incident worth noting on the customer side. On a resettlement farm, two donkeys were electrocuted after they ran into a pool of water energised by a stay wire from a faulty streetlight pole. Fortunately, the two people in the donkey cart were not injured, but for us it was a high-potential incident.”

He added that, following inspections, all stay wires on the farm were fitted with isolators.

City of Windhoek electrical engineer Lukas Wayiti reported several near misses, including minor arc flashes involving operators working on electrical boxes, as well as a recent incident in which a ‘come-along’ cable puller snapped, causing a wire to fall onto an employee working on an overhead line. The municipality was still investigating the incident at the time.