Safety First
Electricity is the most common
form of energy used in homes, offices, manufacturing and construction
industrials. Its benefits to these consumers as convenient source of lighting,
heating and power are obvious. However, through misuse and handling, it can
cause harm, if it passes through a human body, by producing electrical shock or
burns. It also costs the industries dearly in terms of losses in production time
and damages to properties.
According
to the Ministry of Manpower statistics, the common causes of such electrical
accidents generally falls under the following categories:
ð Ignorance or negligence resulting in incorrectly connected wire or other mistakes
ð
Failure
or lack of earthing;
ð
Physical
damage to electrical wiring and equipment;
ð
Lack
of maintenance and checks;
ð
Carelessness
and unsafe operating procedures; and
ð
“DIY”
repairs by unauthorized or incompetent persons.
Effects of electric current from an electric shock
1mA
– 2mA
Barely perceptible, no harmful effects
5mA – 10mA
Throw off, painful sensation
10mA – 15mA
Muscular contraction, can’t let
go!
20mA – 30mA
Impaired breathing
50mA and above
Ventricular fibrillation and death
Another
possibility that one can receive and electric shock is that he places parts of
his body in series with a live circuit. Passages of an electric current
especially with ac through human body can result in the following types of
severe and sometimes fatal injuries:
ð
Muscle
cramp resulting in difficulty and stoppage of breathing;
ð
Electrical
contact burns caused by the passage of current through the body resulting in
damage to under-lying tissues;
ð
Sudden
muscle spasm throwing the casualty with some force away from point of contact
resulting in injuries due to fall; and
ð Quivering of the heart muscle which can cause the heart to stop completely resulting death.