Explosion at Kimberley substation injures four municipal workers
May 2024Published 29 Sept 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
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What happened
An explosion occurred at approximately 09:00 on 13 May 2024 at the Hercules Street Substation in Herlear, Kimberley. Four Sol Plaatje municipal workers were injured while attending to a cable fault. One worker sustained severe burn wounds and remained in critical condition; the other three were reported out of danger. Power was fully restored after faulty cables were repaired and a new ring main unit installed. The Department of Labour attended the site to assess the incident.
Contributing factors
Faulty cables were identified as the cause of the explosion.
Lessons learned
- A cable fault being worked on in a substation can escalate to an explosion that injures several people on site.
- Confirm the circuit state and the fault location before staff work on a reported cable fault.
- After such an explosion, repair or replace damaged equipment, including the ring main unit, before restoring supply, and preserve the scene for the labour authority.
More lessons on electrical protection and isolation, outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.
Source
Published 2026-09-29. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
