ELECTRICITY DANGERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 772, 19 September 1929, Page 18

ELECTRICITY DANGERS

FOOL-PROOF EQUIPMENT IMPOSSIBLE ELIMINATING RISKS Foolproof electricity is not possible in the present state of society, said Mr. H. J. Turnbull, president of the Electric Supply Authorities Engineers’ Association yesterday. Commenting upon tlie suggestion that there might be propaganda work undertaken in the matter of educating the public in the use of electrical goods, Mr. Turnbull pointed out that by regulation the electric supply authorities endeavoured to make all electric fittings as safe as possible. However, the Public Works Department would be constantly in touch with the matter, and it was certain that such work would receive consideration at the conference next year. “It is impossible to make all electrical goods foolproof,” said Mr. Turnbull. “At the same time there has been evolution in the manufacture of electrical goods to meet what were considered the needs of the consumer. The early electric ranges, for instance, possessed open elements on top. Now they have closed or * armoured elements. There was a recent case of fatality where a child handled the element of an oven. The necessity for armoured (or closed) elements in the oven has not been considered great, but if it is recognised it will be met. “The point is that it is impossible to protect people against the results of using electricity in an improper way. We do everything that can be done by regulation and have given much consideration to what is the best course to follow. For instance, an electric stove should be placed as far away from a water-tap as is consistent with safety, as a water-tap is an eartn, and in the event of a leakage contact with the tap would mean that the full current might pass through a person’s body. A gas-pipe may be an earth, but a water-pipe most certainly is an earth and a point of danger. There have been cases of persons turning on the water-tap with one hand while they fingered the stove and they have received an electric shock. “It must he remembered that the standard 230 voltage is a reasonable thing to bring into a house. But it must also be remembered that it is not the voltage alone that is dangerous, but the quantity of current. People have been killed by receiving a great deal of a low voltage thiffugh them, while In a motor-car, for instance, there is a high voltage, and to touch it is to receive a sharp shock.”