Farm Safety: Path to Ground and Power Line Awareness, Cody’s Story

It was Cody Conrady’s next-to-last day as an assistant manager for a farm agricultural fertilizer company. They were shorthanded that day, so Cody jumped in his truck to get ahead of the sprayer while working on a delivery to a farmer. Once the sprayer was in place, he hopped out of the truck to fill the tank with fertilizer. He and his coworker inside the cab were unaware the sprayer boom had either made contact or gotten too close to a power line.

Unintended contact can happen in an instant. The area where Cody was standing and the equipment was energized for only “a split second or two,” he said.

The stray electricity moved through the tip, boom, tractor, and down to the ground where Cody was standing. When he touched the camlock which connects the hoses, 7,400 volts of electricity flowed through his body, throwing him backward to the ground.

CPR was started in the field, and Cody was taken by ambulance, then medevac, to a level 1 trauma center. He lost an arm and leg as the tissue damage moved through his body for weeks.

“After watching Cody experience immense pain, lose two of his limbs, undergo numerous surgeries and learn to walk again, we knew life wasn’t going to be the same. We knew that the ‘normal’ before was not going to be the ‘normal’ after. There are days that are perfect, when the world is right, and there are the bad days.” Baily, Cody’s wife

Cody’s and Baily’s lives continue. They adapt to the twists and turns of their life together. Cody navigates the challenges he faces with a different dominant hand than before the accident. Some days he can’t do everything he wants to because of his pain. Bailey still struggles at times with what happened that day in May.

Electricity can travel through anything in its path. Unintended contact can happen in an instant. The area where Cody was standing and the equipment was energized for only a split second or two.

Pay attention a little more. Keep an eye on your surroundings. Just take an extra second to look at things, to see how your situation is going to unfold.” Cody

Learn more about how Cody became the path to ground on an average day in May and how the accident changed his life. We thank Cody and his wife, Bailey, for their willingness to share their story.

Cody advises farmers, ag professionals and anyone around power lines to:

• Pay attention.
• Keep an eye on your surroundings.
• Take some extra time to assess your situation.
• Consider how your day could unfold.

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Safe Electricity is the award-winning, public awareness program of the Energy Education Council, a 501(c) 3 (not-for-profit organization) established in 1952 on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. With offices located in Springfield, Ill., Safe Electricity operates under the University of Illinois Extension and is led by the EEC Board of Directors. Since the Safe Electricity program was created in 2001, it has provided thousands of safety-minded resources to its more than 500 utility members from across the country to help save lives and reduce injuries.