604A.01 Good Samaritan law.

Subdivision 1. Duty to assist. A person at the scene of an emergency who knows that another person is exposed to or has suffered grave physical harm shall, to the extent that the person can do so without danger or peril to self or others, give reasonable assistance to the exposed person. Reasonable assistance may include obtaining or attempting to obtain aid from law enforcement or medical personnel. A person who violates this subdivision is guilty of a petty misdemeanor.

An example of this Consumer naiveté that comes to mind started with a 1 am call on or about Dec 23rd several years ago. A resident of a local trailer park complained of having no electricity or heat. Upon arriving I was told that the utilities to the trailer had been turned off by the local fire department for some “unknown” reason. After just a quick investigation and a brief chat with the Fire Marshall (they called him at 2am!) a number of glaring violations were found. The plug supplying power to the trailer had exposed wiring and reverse polarity, the panelboard was loose (unmounted) and lying face up under a bed. The Christmas lights outside were mounted to the metal siding with sheet metal screws and the service was not bonded to the trailer frame. As each violation was pointed out to them I was told how long that particular situation had existed and so it could not be the cause of todays’ problem. What was the problem that brought me there? I don’t know specifics on how it was discovered, but there was a voltage present on the trailer skirting that was arcing to the propane supply line that ran through it. This, together with a propane leak, made for a very dangerous situation with several contributing elements that the customer basically wanted to ignore. After tagging along behind me for a few minutes they knew exactly how to restore service to their trailer and were sure to do it as soon as I left. They just did not understand the hazards. I wish that I could say I was able to convince them, but I wasn’t. What to do? Well, after some thought about the neighbors 10 feet away on either side, each with their own propane tank, and visions of a big crater in my mind I decided that a little donated labor was a small price to pay for piece of mind (mine). I like to think that maybe I brought Christmas a little early that year to all the residents of the trailer park. I’m not sure what the moral of the story is but I learned something about how far someone is willing to go to avoid, or because they can’t afford dealing with a situation like this, and it did make me feel better.

We all know someone that knows that their electrical service is inadequate or unsafe but are ‘going to have it done later because things are tight’. They see that new $2,000 kitchen countertop or front door is a justifiable expense though. When it comes down to the cost of the ‘seen vs. the unseen’ many times it’s no contest. Every time I see this I can’t help but think that a ‘reality check’ is in order, but can’t be overly critical when realizing that similarities exist in us all to some extent. Unfortunately, it may take something extreme for them to start taking their electrical system seriously.