Edison electrical worker suffers burns

A Southern California Edison employee is recovering from a severe burn to his hand in a Los Angeles County hospital burn center, a day after he was injured at a Costa Mesa business, company officials said.

The company declined to identify the employee, but said he is a trouble-shooter for the company who fixes problems for customers at all times, day or night.

The Edison employee was called to a dental office at 2000 Harbor Blvd. in Costa Mesa on Wednesday afternoon to fix an electrical problem, said company spokesman Steve Conroy.

The man was working near a highly energized electrical panel when employees in the office reported seeing a flash just as the man was injured, Conroy said.

Costa Mesa paramedics speculated an electrical current might have burned his hand.

The incident knocked out power to the building but not nearby businesses, Conroy said. Paramedics took the worker to UC Irvine Medical Center’s burn center in Orange, and from there he was taken to a specialty center in Los Angeles.

The man remains hospitalized with a non-life-threatening injury and is recovering. Southern California Edison is conducting an internal investigation into what happened and how it could be avoided in the future, Conroy said.

“We wish him a full recovery, hopefully in the near term,” he added.