No Aircraft
Situational Awareness
Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Airport; Equipment / Tooling
It was brought to my attention that the Ground Power cable hoist broke and came crashing to the ground seconds after it was disconnected from the aircraft and was fully retracted. It fell inches away from where the employee that retracted it stood. Only because of the employee's quick reaction this did not result in severe injury or possible a fatality. These ground power cables are already pretty heavy. By compounding the height to which they are usually stored plus the metal bracket to which they are attached to; increases the velocity to which they fall to the ground. Now imagine if this cable had fall directly on that employee's head and the metal bracket would've impaled his skull. Hence the severity of what could've occurred this morning. This was not the first time one of these ground power cable hoist broke and crashed to the ground here in EWR. I'm not sure how often these cables hoist are being inspected or if they are being inspected at all!
A Ramp Agent reported an Ground Power Cable hoist broke and fell next to a ramp employee narrowly missing him.