Discuss What are the right procedures for dealing with an electrical emergency? in the Australia area at ElectriciansForums.net

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If one of your coworkers suffers a severe electric shock, your first instinct will most likely be to rush to their rescue. But first, pause and reflect. Because the human body is a good conductor of electricity, the charge that just travelled through your coworker could readily move into you if you come into touch with them. Given that electricity has the potential to kill or seriously harm, your top concern should be to reduce the number of persons who are exposed to the shock.

Individuals may appear to be’ stuck' to electrical currents in some situations. What's going on here is that the voltage is high enough to force the victim's muscles to contract. This means they can't let grip of the cord or the thing delivering the shock, which is obviously quite dangerous.

Also, be cautious if water has been spilt on the place. Because water carries electricity, it will continue to do so until the power is shut off.

Ideally, you'll have someone with you so that steps two and three can occur concurrently. If you are alone, however, it is critical that you contact emergency personnel as quickly as possible. Victims with severe electric shocks will require medical attention, so call an ambulance before attempting to deal with the situation yourself.

When you call, provide as much information as possible about where you are and what happened so that the staff can prepare en way.

Turn off the electricity if it is safe to do so without placing yourself in danger. This makes moving around the emergency location considerably safer when the ambulance comes and saves further damage.

If you can't safely switch off the power, try to disconnect the victim from the power source with a dry, non-conductive item like a wooden broomstick or the rescue crook from a low-voltage rescue kit, if one is available.

Only after the victim has been removed from the current should you approach them and administer first aid. Electric shock injuries can vary from severe burns to cardiac arrest and death, and you must be prepared to cope with a variety of scenarios.

If the person is responsive, treat their injuries; for example, soak burns in cold water for 20 minutes before covering them with bandages. If you don't have a first-aid kit with you, kitchen happy wrap will suffice as long as it's not too tightly wrapped. Never use oils or ointments to treat burns.

If the person is not breathing, do cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) until medical personnel arrive to take over.



Knowing how to manage an injured individual before professionals arrive might mean the difference between life and death for those involved in electrical incidents. This is why electrical personnel must be well-trained in first aid.
 
I remember as an apprentice when my spark was working live (Little to no choice) we had simply to stand near him with wooden brooms in the event of electric shock we had to knock them off.
I have witnessed a fella copping 415v across his arm. He was connected <1 sec as luckily for him he got blown away. His arm went ramrod straight. It was still the same as they loaded him into the ambulance, The arm was straight out at right angles to his body (Think pointing at something).
It actually took some weeks of physio for him to have full mobility back in that arm. I would bet that he wasn't too keen on working live without appropriate safety procedures and full ppe before doing that again. 99.9999% of the time we simply should not work live. And the rest of the time we should take full precautions so we can go home at the end of the shift.
 

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