He was always safety conscious and careful, according to his former boss. That’s why family members are wondering why Dave Kessler got too close to a 7,200-volt power line.

The 28-year-old communications worker, who was installing fiber optics lines at a Seattle-area water park, died after an elevated lift brushed the power line and electricity coursed through his back. A 19-year-old coworker was also shocked and suffered severe burns, but was expected to live.

Family members said the married father of two children was going to take a new job to help pay for a home he and his wife were building. His mother said David always put others first. On one occasion when he was in third grade he told her he didn’t want to ride home with her because another student was being ‘picked on’ and he wanted to walk him home.

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries is conducting an investigation into Kessler’s death. Electrical fatalities continue to kill hundreds of workers across North America every year.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 360 work-related electrocutions involving either contact with electric current or contact with overhead power lines in 2005. In Canada an average of about 18 occupational electrocutions occurred each year across the country between 1997 and 2001, according to the Ontario-based Electric Safety Authority.