The main causes of electric shock in children and adolescents, examples of cases of children's electrical injuries
More than half of non-industrial electrical injuries occur in children under the age of 16.
Electrical injuries to children in consumer facilities occur where the performance of electrical installations and especially overhead lines is at a low level. Children's electrical injuries in everyday life most often occur due to the lack of proper supervision of children, especially at preschool age (for example, playing nearby, sockets, leaving machines and devices connected to the network, often defective).
Responsibility for the technical condition and safety measures of the electrical equipment that is in personal use in his house, apartment, yard, is fully borne by the owner of the house. The extent of his competence in matters of electrical safety is demonstrated by numerous electrocution incidents.
When considering various cases of electrical injury with children, the typical reasons for its occurrence are the following:
Accessibility for unauthorized persons of elements of live electrical installations:
Eight-year-old Sasha B. climbed a tree and, after touching a live 6 kV overhead wire passing through its crown, was fatally injured.
A student, Mikhail E, climbed onto the roof of his house and, approaching 1 m from the roof of the 10 kV overhead line belonging to the utility department, was avgraded.
The student Volodya S. plays with the children in the basement of a residential building, where the electrical installation passes through a metal pipe. One wire had defective insulation and touched the pipe. When he touched the tube, the boy received a fatal electric shock.
Low level of operation of electrical equipment and easier access to electrical installations in rural areas:
The barn of a private residential building is made in an ungrounded metal pipe. The insulation of the wiring was broken and touched the pipe. Schoolgirl Lena S, after touching the pipe, was fatally electrocuted.
Children (12 and 6 years old), hiding from the thunderstorm, ran to their mother's pig farm. After the thunderstorm ended, during which the lead wire to the pig farm was cut, the children went for a walk on the grounds of the pig farm. Stepping on a broken wire 0.4 kV, the girl was fatally injured, the boy received severe burns. At the State Farm overhead line and the entrance to the farm, the wires consist of pieces connected by twisting.
In the village, in the constructed building of a kindergarten, a team of plumbers carried out work on the installation of water heating, including electric welding.The welding machine, which is in a malfunctioning state (open live parts, no housing, etc.), is connected to a common switch via a YRV-100 switch lying on the ground without a cover. During the brigade's absence, four-year-old Sasha V., having touched the knives of the knife switch, was mortally wounded.
A group of students, hiding from the rain, entered through an unlocked door into the chamber of the power transformer of the State Farm TP 10 / 0.4 kV. Approaching the 10 kV bus bars of the transformer sleeve, the sixth-grader Sasha B. received severe burns.
On Sunday, seventh-grader Sasha Z. and his friend entered the repair shop of an agricultural enterprise to shoot pigeons with a slingshot. Climbing the metal stand of the crane track on the crane beam, Sasha touched an exposed 380 V bus and was injured.
Unsatisfactory operation of electrical equipment in schools:
Svetlana L. (10 years old) and her brother Alyosha (3 years old) went to the school yard for grass. The boy, passing under the trees, stepped on the broken wire of the 0.4 kV overhead line, which is in the balance of the school, and was fatally electrocuted. The sister, who rushed to help her brother, suffered severe burns.
The first-grader Kostya I., playing in the school yard, entered the second floor of the transformer substation 10 / 0.4 kV belonging to the school, by stairs, into the room of the 10 kV switchgear, the outer door of which was torn off the hinges. After opening the door of the holding cell, the boy entered it, touched the rail of the arresters and received severe burns.
In the school, the electrical wiring at the junction with the heating pipe touched it and was not protected from heat.Under the influence of heat, the insulation of the wiring becomes unusable and the heating pipe is energized. Seven-year-old Ira S. put her hand on the riser of the heating system and was mortally wounded.
Penetration into power panels and assemblies, transformer substations, switchgear and other electrical premises that are not locked after inspection and repair by electrical personnel:
At the river port construction site, a team of electricians was working to connect the KTPN to the existing 6 kV overhead line. After connecting the KTPN and leaving the doors of the 6 kV switchgear compartment open (the hinges were torn off the door), the team went to the welding transformer. 14-year-old Alyosha M., who was at the construction site, entered the KTPN and, after touching the live parts of 6 kV, died.
There was no lock in the 10 kV switchgear of the two-story ZTP 10 / 0.4 kV, and the doors of the 10 kV cells were not constipated. Two boys (aged 9 and 6), who were playing in the kindergarten, climbed the stairs to the second floor and entered the 10 kV switch room. After opening the doors of the high-voltage cell, they came within an unacceptable distance of live parts and suffered severe burns.
Eight-year-old Andryusha G. was returning from school. Seeing that the door of the TP was not locked, I entered the room, then out of curiosity I stood on the structure of the grounding device, approaching the powered buses at close range. The boy was injured by the resulting electric arc.
The student Armik P., playing near the KTP, climbed to the base, touched the high-voltage input with his hand and was injured.The substation had no fences and no warning signs on the doors.
Vanya K. at the age of 11 came to his father at work (DSK) and began to walk around the territory. Looking at the control panel of the heat generator, he opened the unlocked door of the panel and touched the live parts that were live, he received a fatal electric shock.
Contact with defective electrical installations due to violation by PUE electricians during the device and installation:
At the regional hospital, 12-year-old Angela S. was left alone in the ward. Kneeling on the windowsill and touching the radiator with her foot, Angela tried to open the window. At the moment of opening the window, he turned towards the window and touched two phase wires of VL 0.4 kV passing at a distance of 16-18 cm from the wall at the level of the lower part of the window box, injuring himself.
A 7th grade student, Magomed A., swims with his friends near the bridge over the canal. While floating under the bridge, he grabbed the metal structures of the bridge with his hands and was fatally shocked by an electric shock. Directly under the bridge there was a cable, the live part of which, due to broken insulation, was touching the metal parts of the bridge in some places.
An electrified metal trailer is installed on an open construction site of a residential building. The power cable is laid on the roof of the trailer in violation of the rules: the wires touch the trailer body. Six-year-old Yura B. Niknuv on a construction site, touched the trailer and was fatally injured.
When he touched a broken wire on a non-working communication line, Sasha S. (age 6) was fatally electrocuted.In one of the sections, the earthed suspension cable of the communication cable came into contact with the phase conductor of the existing 0.4 kV overhead line as a result of failure to comply with the dimensions of the junction.
Contact with defective electrical installations due to their unsatisfactory work by electricians, untimely or poor quality repair and testing:
On the street, a student of the first grade of Seryozha 3, when the traffic light of the pedestrian call device was turned on, was fatally shocked by an electric shock, because the insulation of the negative wire at the top of the traffic light stand was broken, and when the metal stand vibrated, the wire touched her with his bare part. When the button of the pedestrian call device was pressed between the metal traffic light pole and the metal pedestrian fence, a potential difference of 100 V appeared.
The preschool girl Aigul N., who was playing near the house, received a fatal electric shock. A burnt phase wire fell on her hand, going to the entrance of the house and made of non-woven wire with a total cross section of 12 mm2.
Contact with broken wires of overhead lines:
A mother with her seven-year-old son walked down the street. The child picked up a wire hanging from a tree and suffered severe burns. His mother, who was walking behind him, was mortally wounded by throwing the wire with her bare hands. The city networks did not cut the crown of the trees in time, which caused a break in the 0.4 kV overhead line wire.
Natasha K. (7 years old), together with other children, entered the territory of the nursery through a shaft in the fence, grabbed a broken wire of a powered outdoor lighting network 0.4 kV and was fatally electrocuted. The line was in poor condition.
0.4 kV overhead lines were cut from tree branches. In the evening, Seryozha D. (3.5 years old), running along the path, stepped on a wire lying in the grass and died.
Touching wires left live after dismantling electrical installations:
A citizen entered the store with her son Alyosha A. (3 years old). While the mother stood in line at the register. Alyosha was near the window on the trading floor. After touching both the metal part of the stained glass frame and the heating battery, the boy received a fatal electric shock. The wires hanging on the facade of the building, dismantled but not disconnected from the network, touched the drainage pipe, which had an electrical connection with the metal structure of the stained glass frames.
Schoolgirl Natasha L. was with her friends at the construction site of a meat processing plant and after touching a wire lying on the ground, she received a fatal electric shock. The previous day, the wire had been dropped from the entrance of the poultry farm building intended for demolition, but had not been dismantled and remained live.
Leaving small children unattended:
Four-year-old Zhenya M., who was near an open outlet, stuck a metal pin into it and burned himself up to his fingers.
Five-year-old Yulia, sitting at the table and touching the radiator with her foot, plugged the metal hook of the hanger into the socket and was mortally wounded.
The driver N. repaired the car. After going to a gas station, he left the two children unattended in the workshop. After radiating the ends of polyvinyl chloride and untying the wires left to connect the welding transformer, student A. fell under the voltage and died.
Anya W.(4 years old), playing in the yard with her five-year-old brother, entered the barn and decided to swing on the hanging lighting wiring (height to the wire from the ground is 1.3 m). The girl pulled out a wet piece of wood, put her hands on the wiring, the insulation of which cracked in places, and she was electrocuted.
Unauthorized actions of adolescents when connecting electrical consumers to the network:
In connection with the reconstruction of the 0.4 kV overhead line, the even side of the street, where the house of the student Volodya S. was located, was not electrified. Deciding to listen to music, Volodya and a friend unauthorizedly connect the cable of a large portable speaker to the entrance of the house across the street. The cable consisted of two parts with an uninsulated junction. While the comrade went to get the electrical tape, Volodya held a cable with bare veins in his hands. At the time, a car was passing down the street hitting the cable. Bare veins touched the young man's arm and he died.
Games near electrical installations, illiteracy, mischief:
When the students flew a kite using a nichrome wire that touched the conductors of a 6 kV overhead line, Volodya V, holding the end of the wire, received burns.
Three college students, out of mischief, jumped off a sand embankment trying to touch the conductor of a working 10 kV overhead line passing near it. During one of these attempts, Volodya T. touched the wire and received a fatal electric shock.
Three children entered the unlocked room of the 6 kV switchgear of the city power transmission network and dismantled the brickwork at a height of 2 m between the utility room and the switchgear, two boys ended up on the structure of 6 kV cells near the live busbars. One of them touched different phases with his feet and received severe burns, the second, frightened, jumped down and broke his arm, the third received 1st degree burns.
While playing with the boys on the territory of the DSK construction site, the preschooler Andrei I., in order to ride from top to bottom on the cable laid from the metal mast to the ground, took off his sandals and when he tried to climb the mast to the cable, he was mortally wounded. The mast was energized due to incorrect laying of the cable
A wire is thrown over the phase wire of the street lighting, the other end of which touches a metal support. During the day, a trench was dug under the line for laying the heat pipe. During the game, children from nearby houses tied a wire to a support and used it to lower them into the trench. After turning on the street lighting, Tachmurad Ch. (age 8), trying to get out of the trench, grabbed the wire and got burns on his hands.
Unfortunately, there are cases when the actions of adults cause electrical injuries to children:
Natasha P. (1 year old), playing in the room, took the plug of the TV antenna in her hand, and with the other hand touched the heating radiator, which turned out to be live. As the investigation showed, a meter was connected to the battery to steal the electricity.
While in the summer with his grandmother in the village, ten-year-old boy Volodya L.was fatally injured after hitting a metal fence in the yard. The wire of a portable lamp with defective insulation used to illuminate the yard touched the vineyard's metal structures connected to the yard's metal fence.
Pensioner P. installed a washing machine in the yard of the land. Touching the body of a working machine, her ten-year-old granddaughter Alla was fatally shocked due to a short circuit on the body.
The insufficient awareness of students about the dangers of electric current and the non-observance of basic electrical safety requirements in everyday life has led to a number of injuries:
The schoolgirl Zhenya T. in the back room of her house, standing on the wet floor from the ground and twisting the light bulb, touched a live live wire and was mortally wounded.
The student Misha G. decided to fix the iron. After removing the iron's cover, he plugged it in. After touching the body, he was mortally wounded. The body of the iron is energized due to contact with an uninsulated wire on the supply wire.
L.'s family was preparing for their eldest son's wedding. In this regard, the youngest son (a 10th grade student) decided to make the yard lighting. To do this, he stripped the insulation from both ends of the two wires. After plugging the two wires into the outlet in the house and passing them through the window, I went out into the yard to connect them to the wires of the portable lamp. Fatal injury is caused by touching the bare ends of live wires.
Below are some examples of electrocution for 6th - 8th grade students that show their complete ignorance of the dangers of approaching existing electrical installations, especially overhead lines. Neither the parents nor the school explained this to them.
Student of the 8th grade Kolya X. after removing the blinds of the ventilation openings, he entered the TP room from the side of the 10 kV switchgear. When he was trying to get out of the transformer substation, he touched his foot to the 10 kV buses and got electrocuted.
The student Sasha F. (12 years old), together with a friend, despite the presence of a warning poster, broke the lock on the door of the switchgear of ТР 6 kV in order to save the children's bicycle, opening the door of the cell, the equipment and tires of which were under voltage, he touched current carrying parts and suffered severe burns.
An 8th grade student, Anrar U., climbed onto the support of the live 10 kV overhead line and was fatally injured while trying to cut the wires.
A group of five students, returning from a walk in the forest, climbed to the site of KTP 6 / 0.4 kV, located 4.5 m from the ground level, to look at the village. When approaching the 6 kV bus, sixth grader Volodya L. received a severe burn on his left hand.
Preventing Non-Occupational Electrical Injuries
The prevention of non-occupational electrical injuries largely depends on the organized outreach work of power engineers to the public.
A great deal of work is being done by the energy supervisory authorities, using for this purpose all possible means of mass information (printing, lectures, talks, social advertising, video on TV and on the Internet), as well as organizing corners and stands for electrical safety . But the activities of these bodies are clearly insufficient.
Since non-industrial electrical injuries in consumer equipment are more common among children, it seems that schools and other educational institutions should not stand aside in solving this problem. The potential of schools and colleges to promote electrical safety on the street and at home is underutilized.
But it is the school (college) that could familiarize students even from the first grade with the basic information about the use of electricity and its safe use, with the rules of behavior of children (and adults) when detecting malfunctions or defects of air portable and communication lines when in the vicinity of electrical installations, that is, to carry out the necessary and useful work to eliminate the illiteracy of the population in matters of safety when using electricity.
All examples of cases of electrical injuries to children are taken from the book "Electrical injuries and its prevention".