crime

Power company employee cut off electricity because he 'was overworked'

15 Comments

A 37-year-old power company employee has been arrested on suspicion of interfering with business activities by deception, after he allegedly cut off the power to over 130 homes last month.

According to police, the man, a maintenance supervisor for the Namba branch of Kansai Electric Power Co, used his tools to open a distribution box without authorization on May 31 and then used transformers to cut off the power supply to certain areas, TBS reported Wednesday.

As a result of the sabotage, 132 properties, including houses and shops, were left without power in Naniwa Ward and Tennoji Ward. Police say some properties were left without electricity for up to an hour and a half.

During police questioning, the accused man was quoted as saying he cut the power because he was overworked. "I thought if there was a power cut or similar incident, some more workers might be sent to assist me," he said.

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15 Comments
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As a result of the sabotage, 132 properties

Hope none of them did not have to use oxygen or ventilator machine for breathing. Without it, these people die.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Strange colleagues in the west usually take sick leave or a holiday when they are overworked,not sabotage

7 ( +9 / -2 )

globalwatcher - I'd like to think that if people were using an oxygen or ventilator in their home for breathing then they'd have a generator. Otherwise a simple power cut could kill them.

Am pretty sure hospitals have them here, although in the last big typhoon here the hospital was almost without power while the Family Mart next door was going on like nothing had happened.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Strange, colleagues in the west usually take sick leave or a holiday when they are overworked,not sabotage

If you take sick leave you lose pay, and you get so much hassle for taking a holiday or refusing overtime as well as ruin your future chances of promotion that it's not worth doing.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Am pretty sure hospitals have them here, although in the last big typhoon here the hospital was almost without power while the Family Mart next door was going on like nothing had happened.

Major hospitals that have in-patient services by law have to have back up power generators. Yet even those sometimes go down during typhoons as well because of the direction of the wind that blew back into the generators and overheated them.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If you take sick leave you lose pay, and you get so much hassle for taking a holiday or refusing overtime as well as ruin your future chances of promotion that it's not worth doing.

Rubbish. Why would you lose pay for taking a sick day? Most companies give employees sick days as well as annual leave/holidays. I'm thinking this man hurt his chances of a promotion more by doing this, than by taking a day off...but that's just my opinion.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Rage against the machine.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Can just imagine him singing 'I've got the power' by Snap when he did this....

2 ( +2 / -0 )

AustPaul - Har!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

soldaveJun. 19, 2013 - 03:15PM JST

globalwatcher - I'd like to think that if people were using an oxygen or ventilator in their home for breathing then they'd have a generator. Otherwise a simple power cut could kill them.

Most updated portable generator supports up to 6 hrs, but many poor patients cannot afford this. It is expensive and the government health care does not pay for it.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Why would you lose pay for taking a sick day?

Poor performance review. My gf just had a 2% salary cut because her management-heavy company "recalibrated" the performance reviews, after failing to attract attrition in the ranks through a laughable early retirement incentive.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@hammereddownnail

I am a rebel, my health is more important.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I know he did wrong, but I have to sympathise with him - Clearly, he was on his own, and he must surely have been at his wits' end, to have done this.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

cry for attention (help)

perhaps better than suicide, cutting or burning yourself, getting into fights, or murdering a co-worker.

perhaps worse than quitting and looking for a new job, learning to meditate, figuring out how to get "noticed" and get promoted to a new job, or joining a union and fighting for bennies (and the right to use them, as opposed to just "having them on paper").

take responsibility. run your own life!

avoid wallowing in misery where possible.

sez lowly.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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