ECN Forum Forums Safety Discussion and News Occupational Safety Discussion Today I witnessed an Electrocution

That's a pretty wild event, good to hear everybody made it. It's the close calls that make priorities snap clear.

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On the non-issue, I'm reading this book about the AC/DC battle back in the day. I'm about halfway through it, but it's a interesting read, so far. In my searching for a book cover, I saw nothing but good reviews, so I don't think I'm in for disappointment.

John,
The day when we start to question HOW and WHY things happen like they do at an accident site, is the day we go down the toilet.
You do the best that you can in the given situation.
I have to whole-heartedly agree with WFO, that is the first rule of being any sort of an emergency responder.
Second rule is don't ever put the safety or lives of your co-worker(s) or the patient(s) in jeopardy by any of your actions.
It sounds to me that this was an effective rescue.
May they continue to happen, where needed!.

Is there an OSHA report available detailing the reasons why a 24 year old person was electrocuted in Massachusetts a few months ago?

Just a 'bump' to bring this topic to the front of the que ... it's relevant to a little dispute here at work, and I want it readily available to my co-workers.

it's an everyday event Reno

but i agree with many of you

there should be more of a focus on safety, not just from us in the field, but from safety related doctrines like 70E

this 'excuse' , this grey area that allows anyone to claim 'it just can't be shut off' should be roundfiled

as i get older, discression seems the better part of bolder, i'm shutting more and more off, and that should be MY call, not someone in batterymarch park, or some management beancounter

there should be more isolation required too, for ex. i advocate simple stuff like meter/mains because the homeowners and main. men always got thier mug in my service upgrades

i've also been the responder that's hightailied it to the scene of many an accident with wires down, and have had to sit and watch people die

so yeah, on one hand it's easy to say (like i am) that safety is a key issue that should be in the forefront of everyone's mind in our (or any) trade

but it's awful hard to do in that heat of the moment, and you live with the "woulda coulda shoulda's" afterwards

that said, bravo for the man who pulled down his mate, he can be my apprentice anyday

~S~

We can argue semantics a long time but he ain't clinically dead until they slide him in the drawer. He is clinically almost dead. Dead is too far to return clinically or by bus.
Really bad shock almost resulting in death.

well i don't know how it works elsewhere, but here in the northeast the body supposedly has to cool off to a certain temperature, and a medical examiner has to declare 'death'

ems, btw, has never been given the holy water, technically a person can be in two pieces , and they aren't legally deceased on our watch

this can kind s*ck too, for instance someone finds a friend/relative down, and starts cpr, we're bound by law to continue, even if rigor and lividity is obvious

obviously, we're all litigant challenged sorts, or we'd have this issue figured out, eh?

~S~

Yea, that's just what I need- I need some management wonderkind to look at those comments and say "see! Your whole point that 120 can kill is disproven because the guy wasn't really dead - so go ahead and work hot because I said so! Besides, electricians are supposed to work hot"

That's the exact situation I'm dealing with ... a supervisor with the customer wants the electrical contractor to add a receptacle to an existing circuit "hot," simply because its' too much of a bother to trace out the circuit or find the right panel. After all, it's 'only' 120.

I rather thought the image of a corpse swinging from the rafters might get the supervisors' attention.

Reno:
The supervisors reason is unacceptable. Tracing & ID of the circuit with any of the circuit tracers available should eliminate any issues with the 'flip the breakers' method.

Imho, it just shouldn't be his call in the first place


~S~