The family of a man who was electrocuted after falling onto a piece of equipment at the Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton last year is suing TVA and one of its contractors over his death, alleging negligence. Seth Black, age 29  was employed by Williams Specialty Services when
he was killed last September. He was putting insulation on top of the equipment, called a precipitator insulator, when OSHA says he fell five feet through the top of a metal electrical equipment compartment and made contact with the energized electrical equipment inside, resulting in his death.

The lawsuit alleges negligence on the part of TVA and also names GUBMK Constructors as a defendant. Williams Specialty was not named in the lawsuit, which seeks a jury trial and $5 million in damages.

OSHA investigated the accident and in March of this year, issued its findings, finding both Williams Specialty and GUBMK Constructors, and
giving TVA “serious notice of unsafe or unhealthy working conditions,” but not fining the utility. OSHA said in March that it had found that Williams Specialty Services, GUBMK Constructors, and TVA exposed workers to “fall and electrocution hazards by not determining if the walking and working surfaces employees were working from had the strength and structural integrity to support them safely.”
TVA is scheduled to retire Bull Run by the end of 2023.