Dave Rogers | The Ottawa Citizen

Quebec's construction safety commission is investigating an electrical accident that seriously injured a maintenance worker on Monday and closed the Canadian Museum of Civilization for the day.

Christine Bernard, a spokeswoman for the Commission de la sante et securite au travail said the worker received a 25,000-volt shock when he was cleaning dust off the museum's main electrical switching gear at 3:50 a.m. Ms. Bernard said routine safety procedures required for the job normally prevent workers from coming into contact with high voltage current.

The commission required the contractor, Black and McDonald Ltd., to explain the company's safety procedures.

Mike Sharp, vice-president of Black and McDonald Ltd., the electrical contractor responsible for the maintenance work, said a worker employed by a sub-contractor was taken to Montreal's Hotel-Dieu hospital after the accident, but he did not have any information about his condition.

Museum employees were told to stay home on Monday because the accident shut down power to the building, but the power failure did not affect visitors because the museum is closed on Mondays. The museum reopened Tuesday morning after the contractor repaired the switching gear.