125 damages over 6 months: DTEK Odesa Grids reminds about mortal danger of violating the rules of electrical safety
Thermal power generation15 August 2025
During the first six months of 2025, energy workers in the Odesa region registered 125 cases of damage to DTEK Odesa Grids power facilities, caused by safety rules violation. They include: knocked down poles of the overhead lines and damaged cables.
This caused power outages for hundreds of customers, additional expenditures on emergency repairs and, most importantly, risk for life and health of people.
Most often, such emergencies occur during cargo handling and farm job performance near the power lines.
For example, in June, agricultural machinery knocked down a pole when working the field. The wire broke, damaging the vehicle and creating a real threat to the life of the machine operator.
Energy workers remind about the following:
- Do not unload transport and do not work with agricultural machinery in the secured zone of the overhead lines.
- Do not bring the machinery or the car body close to the wires — even a non-contact approach may become lethally dangerous.
If the machinery touched the wire:
- Do not leave the cabin until the line is de-energized.
- If you have to leave the vehicle (for instance, due to the fire), jump out of it, while not touching the car body, and walk away to the distance of 8–10 meters with small steps (goose-stepping).
Any intrusion in the work of power facilities or violation of safety rules is not just fines and financial losses, but a possibility to lose life.
DTEK Odesa Grids urges everyone to be careful, take care of themselves and strictly follow the rules of electrical safety.