Evening star., 1914-10-04
Electricity
Accidents,


A..:I.x human IN g er " alton
eA'S' which Uncle Sam is now
attempting to work out through his
experts in the United States bureau Of
standards. The engineers of this
branch of,the Department of Commerce
are working in cooperation with state
and municipal authorities, and electri-
cal men generally. to develop adequate
standards for the construction and
operation of everything from electrical
flatirons to a power plant, largely with
the view of reducing electrical life
hazards.
Although electricity has replaced
other forms of energy which have
much higher accident hazard. still
there are more than three persons a
day in the United States-1oo a month
and 1900 a year-who have their lives
snuffed out by coming into contact
with a wire or piece of apparatus
which "they did not know was loaded
dangerous only because Of insufficient
or faulty insulation. A full half OF
the electrical fatalities occur to spe-
cial employees. at power stations or
The other half Of fatal electrical acct
dents-nearly 500 year-are met
by ordinary citizens in their homes.
streets and places of employment, peo-
pie having no QlreCl CONHeCtloH Will
electrical work of any kind.
Although the outdoor hazards to the
ordinary citizen are mostly from high
voltages, It is a great mistake for q
person to think that high voltage is
necessary to produce fatal results.
Instances are even cited to snow no a wnere re
contacts with the ordinary ITO volt or
220 volt circuits of the dwelling house
or business office have resulted fatally.
The resistance of the electrical cir
cult through the person is often Of
much more Importance than the
standards engineer yesterday in speak
ing of the governments efforts to
lessen electrical hazards by developing
safe standards of construction and en-
against accidents. IF the resistance
in an electrical circuit is greatly re-
duced enough current may flow to kill
a person almost instantly. even with
the ordinary inside voltages.
Conditions under which a person
may become a part of a circuit of COM
paratively low resistance exist when
the person stands on damp cellar noors,
stable floors or laundry floors. or
touches metal piping or bathroom.
laundry or kitchen fixtures. At such
times of low resistance contacts with
improperly constructed fixtures are
particularly dangerous. II the body or
clothing is wet the danger is very
"a hotel employe at a Pennsylvania
town near Pittsburgh went last month
to the basement. He reached for the
socket. touched the brass shell which
had come in contact with the live
parts within, and. as he was standing
on a damp floor, received fatal shock.
"a small boy in an eastern city sat
with damp trousers on a radiator while
he played with small electric portable
lamp. Some time later he was found
i4-k okf tod
but proved ineffective A few days
ago a young baker in a Nebraska city
accidentally touched the live part of
an uninclosed electric switch while put
ting away some pans on shelf. and
was killed.
"a short time ago a bank employe
carried a lamp socket into a vault.
Fe was found dead on the conducting
floor of the vault, grasping the socket,
the insulation of which was defective.
to use an electric vibrator while in a
hathtub. A broken connection inside
the vibrator had made its outer shell
live and the man was fatally shocked
"All these cases simply show where
danger may exist even with low volt
ages. People seldom think of these or
binary sources of danger. The aver
age person feels hesitation about
using a telephone during storm. yet
I cannot recall hearing of fatal acci-
dent while teleDhoning. notwithstand-
ing the fact that thousands of en-
ployes. especially switchboard ooer-
ators, have to remain at the telephone
in all kinds of storms"
Among the means which have been
most effectively used in preventing
electrical accidents to the general pub
lie are proper wiring. Enclosure of all
''live" metal parts of fuses. switches
and panel boards and proper insula-
ton. and the use in all exposed cleo
trical devices of properly placed in
sulating material or thoroughly
grounded metal. especially in base
ments, bathrooms, laundries. kitchens
or in any room, shop or place where
persons can touch them while standing
on damp surfaces or while also touch
ing piping, heaters. tubs or similar
metal surfaces. Brass shell sockets are
especially bad in such locations. The
governments experts urge the pur-
chase only of connecting cords or port
ly inspected by the proper authorities.
Persons are also advised to report any
shock they have received from an cleo
trical fixture or device. because some-
times, the electrical experts say, there
Is danger of receiving a second and
fatal shock from the same source.
To further the work of protecting
electrical employees the bureau of
standards has just published a bulle-
tin which is called Safety Rules for
Operation" which covers the precau-
employers and employees in the various
branches of the electrical industry
can best avoid the dangers which sur
round electrical work.
RAYMOND w. PULLMAN