Slip ups can prove fatal for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. workers.

But Johns Hopkins University engineering students are hoping a device they created will make life a little safer for utility employees.

The students designed an apparatus that allows BGE workers to disconnect high-voltage cables from above ground and neighborhood transformers from at least 12 feet away. That is farther than workers must be without the device, putting them out of reach of possible fiery explosions if cables touch.

Without the device, electrical workers use an 8-foot “hot stick” to reach the electric cables, which are powered with at least 7,600 volts, nearly 70 times more than homes’ electrical sockets.

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“Anytime you’re switching electricity, you run the risk of something happening that’s unexpected,” said Bruce Hirsch, BGE’s principal engineer. “The key issue is you provide your people the equipment they need.”

Hirsch stressed that BGE goes to extreme lengths to protect workers, who are required to wear flame-retardant suits, goggles and helmets when working with live wires. But, he said, the students’ device will help improve safety even more in a job in which accidents can prove fatal.

Thomas Kikas Jr., a 19-year-old electrician trainee from Middle River, died last week while working for a BGE contractor. He slipped into the hole he dug while trying to fix a busted underground cable and was electrocuted, police said. It is the worst result of what can happen when electrical workers get too close to the high-voltage wires they work with on a daily basis.

Th device is built with a lightweight aluminum frame so it can be easily carried, but students also tested it to withstand the pressure of detaching parts that are stuck in place, said Kyle Azevedo, one of three Hopkins students who spent his senior year creating the device.

“What our device does is it’s completely mechanical so all they have to do to activate it is pull on a rope,” Azevedo said. “That allows them to be as far away from the transformer as they want. The range is technically unlimited.”

Worker injuries at BGE have declined in recent years, according to the company. Hirsch said the company could start using the device in the field in three months.

msilvestri@baltimoreexaminer.com