OSHA Investigating Work Crew Accident In Burlington

BURLINGTON, MA — Personnel from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will investigate an incident that sent a telephone pole and wires toppling onto an excavator and a nearby vehicle in Burlington just before 11 a.m. on Thursday, according to a police spokesperson.

The incident took place at 10:50 a.m. on Middlesex Turnpike near Mall Road in Burlington, police said.

There, a work crew performing road work on Middlesex Turnpike “took down wires and a telephone pole,” according to police.

Police said the falling pole hit the excavator and the other vehicle.

While the excavator operator escaped the incident without injury, the vehicle’s driver was taken to a local hospital out of “an abundance of caution,” according to police.

OSHA personnel were on scene in Burlington following the incident.

Middlesex Turnpike had reopened as of 1:20 p.m., though Eversource utility crews were still working to restore power.

Officers remained on scene directing traffic in areas where signals were non-operational, police said.

Eversource's power outage map noted at least 10 utility customers without power in the area around 3:50 p.m. The outage started around 11 a.m.

The utility noted a second nearby outage that began at 12:45 p.m. impacting 21 customers.

Outages had been resolved as of Thursday night, according to Eversource.