According to the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI), every year 60 people die from being electrocuted by a common household consumer product; the most common products in these accidents are small appliances, power tools, and lighting equipment. Of those children that are injured by electricity each year, 70% of those kids are hurt by electricity in accidents at their own home, with adults nearby.
Workers At Highest Risk of Electrocution While Working On the Job
The CDC reports that the danger of injury from electricity is highest for those exposed to electricity while working on the job. Electrical shocks and electricity burns are very real dangers to workers in a number of industries, but those working in construction, in industrial areas, and in mining are particularly vulnerable to injury or death from exposure to electricity.
There are four kinds of injuries that a human can suffer from electricity:
1. Electrocution (death from electricity)
2. Electric shock
3. Electric burn
4. Electric energy causing fall.
For miners, the risk of injury on the job from electricity is higher than any other worker. More miners die from electrocution than any other kind of work (8% to 12% higher risk) according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Electrocutions in the News
While many may think that death from electricity (or serious injury from electrical burns, shocks, or falls) is remote, consider the following recent news stories where people have been hurt or killed by electricity:
1. Californian Man Killed Today By Electricity On the Job in Texas
It’s being reported today that a utility worker checking a power line using a raised bucket was electrocuted while doing his job. The man was a contract worker for the local Victoria, Texas, power company who hailed from California. It’s not known (yet) what happened that caused his electrocution.
2. Missouri Mother Sues Power Company After Her Children Die From Electrocution in Swimming Accident
This week, a grieving mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Union Electric Company / Ameren Missouri alleging that their Lake of the Ozarks lake dock workers failed to install electrical protection devices or ground fault interrupters where the dock meets the seawall in order to stop people from suffering electric shocks, and that as a result of this her 13-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son were electrocuted while swimming in the lake.
3. Good Samaritans Die of Electrocution Trying to Help Victim of Car Accident and Families Sue Utility Companies
Last week, wrongful death lawsuits were filed in Los Angeles based upon allegations that a fire hydrant and a light pole were too close together and when an automobile accident occurred at their location, two women trying to help the victim of the car crash died of electrocution proximately caused by a live wire from the light pole falling into a pool of water from the hydrant.
4. Chinese Women Alleged to Be Electrocuted by IPhone – Apple Announced “TakeBack Program” of IPhone Chargers on August 16
In China, a woman is said to have been electrocuted while using her smartphone while it was on its charger and while the charger was not manufactured by Apple, her IPhone electrocution death has resulted in Apple announcing that its customers should only use Apple chargers with their Apple products and that Apple will replace any non-Apple charger with an official charger if anyone brings that charger to Apple (along with ten bucks).
