Care With Electricity And Appliances Lowers Rate Of Accidents

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 35, 6 April 1948, Page 3

Care With Electricity And Appliances Lowers Rate Of Accidents

Several people have been killed by electric shocks this summer. Few of these deaths were purely accidental and most of them could have been avoided by exercising ordinary care. One death arose from folly when several boys were climbing a power pylon and one of them, out of bravado, touched a 110,000 volt wire. Several of the other deaths were also due to deliberate contact with overhead wires. Two were caused by attempting to rescue persons who were grasping overhead lines. In another case a child was killed when she picked up a live wire which had fallen to the ground. Although such accidents are serious, they are very few in relation to the widespread use of electricity throughout the Dominion. Nevertheless, constant care is needed with electrical installation and appliances. When in trouble always consult a registered electrician.. Amateurs can easily make dan-

gerous mistakes when attaching a three-pin plug to the flex for a radio, jug, iron or radiator. If a “live” wire is connected in error to the pin which should carry the earthing wire, then the whole appliance will become “alive.” Some amateurs, not knowing the correct procedure, sever one wire of a three-wire flexible cord and attach only two wires to the plug. This can be eqally dangerous. Rules For Safety Employ a qualified electrician to do all repairs. If you see a fallen line, do not touchy it, but advijse the nearest power supply authority or the police, or both. Stand by and warn others not to touch the line until a linesman or a policeman takes over the responsibility. In a case of electric shock, if possible, switch off the power or pull out the plug to which the wire is attached. If this is not possible, the patient should be touched only through some insulating material, or an attempt should be made to dislodge him by knocking him away from the live conductor. Be quick as the possibility of fatal injury increases rapidly with longer duration of contact.

It may be possible to knock the wire away from the patient with a dry stick or dry coat. Don’t touch him except with rubber gloves, or an improvised dry insulation such as a rubber golosh, rubber tobacco pouch, a loop of rope or a dry woollen garment. Nothing damp or nothing made of metal must be touched.

. If breathing has stopped, apply resuscitation methods. On recovery or if the patient is still conscious, dust the burns thickly with dry antiseptic powder such as tannic acid or picric acid and cover with dry sterile gauze.