Dorothy FarrarElectric accident
Electrical accidents, also known as electrical accidents, can be fatal depending on the voltage and the severity of the resulting injuries. Most electrical accidents occur in the household in the form of minor electric shocks that leave either no or only minor injuries.
What is an electrical accident?
An electrical accident happens when a person comes into contact with electricity and the effect of electricity leaves injuries. An electric shock occurs at the moment when the affected person comes into contact with live devices or non-insulated live cables or wires and enters the electrical circuit. The current flows through the entire organism and causes various injuries depending on the strength. In the worst case, the electric shock leads to death. In Germany, about 30 percent of accident victims die each year from high-voltage accidents and three percent of low-voltage victims.
Causes
The severity of the damage depends on various factors. The duration of the current exposure and the amperage play a decisive role. The current conductivity of the environment is also crucial. If water and live devices meet at the same time, human contact regularly leads to death. Overhead lines and overhead lines pose life-threatening dangers due to the power supply.
In the household, most electrical accidents occur due to handling without specialist knowledge with non-insulated cables, electrical appliances, electrical cables, in the workshop (three-phase current) or in the hobby room (220 volt mains voltage). These are low-voltage accidents up to 1000 volts. An exception are high-voltage appliances in the kitchen. This includes the stove. At high voltage, direct current causes greater damage than alternating current. At low voltage, it is the other way around. From 65 volts of electricity, the skin resistance can be overcome.
The maximum contact voltage in Germany must not exceed 120 volts DC and 50 V AC voltage. The boundary between low and high voltage is 1000 volts AC and 1500 volts DC. In order to facilitate the clinical findings, an average value of 500 volts is used. This means that electrical accidents, for example in the subway sector, are among the high-voltage accidents that differ from accidents involving household appliances in the low-voltage range. These have a short exposure time, as the victims immediately cramp and fall due to the strong electric shock. This leads to an interruption of the circuit. Nevertheless, high-voltage shocks pose a much higher risk than low-voltage effects.
Symptoms and course
Typical symptoms of an electrical accident:
- Sinus bradycardia
- Sinus tachycardia
- Heart fibrillation
Due to the cramped muscles, there is a holding reaction at the voltage source due to the strongly pronounced flexors (flexor muscles) compared to the extensor muscles. How much current enters the body depends on the insulation property of the clothing. At 30 mA AC and 80 mA DC, the muscles cramp. If the current path runs favorably and without corresponding resistance, the respiratory muscles contract tetanically (continuous shortening of muscle tissue, muscle cell).
This contracture entails respiratory insufficiency. Cardiac arrhythmias may occur in the form of sinus bradycardia, sinus tachycardia, extrasystoles (cardiac reaction outside the sinus rhythm) and cardiac fibrillation. Children are a particularly vulnerable group. In nature, dangers lurk from lightning strikes (head flow in the brainstem) and overturned overhead lines, which can introduce electricity into the immediate environment.
Diagnosis
Typical symptoms of an electric shock, which lead to a quick and reliable diagnosis, are shortness of breath, tachycardia, muscle cramps, burns, chest pain, cardiac arrhythmias, disturbances of consciousness, unconsciousness, muscle paralysis and circulatory failure. If the heart is in the immediate vicinity or directly on the current flow, life-threatening ventricular fibrillation occurs and, in the worst case, cardiac arrest.
Burn injuries occur at the entry and exit points in the form of electricity marks. If a person suffers a violent electric shock from the effects of high-voltage current, his body will cramp. Secondary injuries can include Broken Bones and other injuries resulting from a fall and its aftermath.
treatment and therapy
First aiders on site must take suitable protective measures for themselves, because haphazard and too quick action puts these people themselves in danger. There is a particular risk of injury to first responders when the patient is still connected to the power source. First, a separation between the patient and the power source must be made.
Live cables in the immediate vicinity of the injured person are removed with non-conductive objects (wooden brooms). If the accident victim is responsive and there is no acute danger to life, the burn injuries are treated first. Even if the patient has suffered only minor injuries and shows no signs of secondary complaints, an emergency medical examination is indicated.
In order to counteract these undesirable subsequent symptoms, the patient is treated with an infusion as a precaution . If there are no more complaints, further monitoring is obsolete (all-or-nothing phenomenon). In the case of work accidents and a healthy heart, prolonged resuscitation leads to success.
Prevention
Preventing electrical accidents is easy. Non-functioning electrical devices must be disposed of immediately, sockets and high-voltage devices must be made inaccessible with child safety devices. Cables that have leaking insulation must be replaced with new ones. A specialist should always be consulted for repairs to electrical cables, high-voltage devices, lamps and other live devices.
In the hobby room and in the workshop, care must always be taken and the operating and safety instructions for tools and live devices must be observed. Staying in the immediate vicinity of overhead power lines and overhead lines should be avoided. During thunderstorms, people need to go to safe places to avoid being struck by lightning.
Hello and welcome to my Health Guide & Encyclopedia! My name is Dorothy Farrar, and I'm the founder and main author of this platform.
My passion for health and wellness started at a young age when I became interested in the connection between the food we eat and the way we feel. This fascination led me to study nutrition and dietetics in college, where I learned about the importance of a balanced diet and the impact of various nutrients on the body.