Electrical Injuries
Electrical Injuries |
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At many points, electricity can be extremely dangerous to you. The effects of electricity on the body can be variable depending on a number of factors. These factors are as follows:
Other human body factors help to determine the effect of electricity on the body.
Each of these variables can determine the effects of electricity, however, it is important to remember that even very small amounts of electricity can have very harmful effects.
You never want current flowing through you - except for the natural currents produced in your body. Your body is not designed to conduct current and, when it does, many negative things can happen. The effect upon the human body depends on the amount of current, the duration of exposure, and the path of electricity through the body. Electricity can cause extreme burns at the points of contact, breathing difficulties, fractures due to muscle spasm as well as cardiac arrest.
There are many factors that will determine the scope and extent of the effects of electricity on the body. For example, a person can just barely feel one to four milliamps. As you increase the amperage, you increase the amount of pain with which that contact is associated. An exposure of between ten and twenty milliamps may mean that the person may not be able to let go of the electrical contact. Severe pain and muscle contractions would result from exposures ranging from 21 to 50 milliamps. Above 50 milliamps (and remember it takes 20 times this amount of electricity to light a single 100 watt light bulb), the contact could prove to be fatal, resulting in a stoppage of breathing and/or cardiac arrest.
Very small amounts of current flow have been found to cause death in humans. The amount of current flow that is considered 'safe' is 5 'milliamps', a very tiny amount of current. People have been killed with as little as 50 milliamps. To put this in perspective, it takes 1000 milliamps (1 amp) to light a 100 watt light bulb! Electrical safety, therefore, is everyone's concern. We all have a part to play in being on the lookout for potential hazards and taking action to prevent accidents before they occur. When we take steps to help prevent accidents from happening, this can be called proactive action. We all should be more proactive to ensure that ourselves and those around us handle electricity with care.
When you as an emergency responder come across a victim of an electrical accident or incident, you may face a number of different things. If the voltage of the electrical contact was high, the victim might have been blasted some distance away from the point of contact. These kinds of high voltages can cause extreme burns.
Conversely, a victim of an electrical incident at lower voltages may experience muscle spasms that make it impossible for people to release themselves from the contact. The person may be unable to let go until the circuit is turned off or by the weight of the person's own body collapsing clear of the source.
Please Remember: It cannot be emphasized enough that you MUST ensure that victims are clear of electricity before proceeding with your standard first aid examination.
There are many different signs and symptoms of electrical injury depending upon all of the factors noted above. The scope of signs and symptoms experienced by the victims of electrical injuries might include:
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Remember: It is essential that before any treatment for electrical injury commences, the cause of the electrical injury must be removed. If treatment commences before the cause is removed, there may be two victims instead of one.
Once the source of electricity has been isolated and the victim is clear of the source, it is then safe to commence with the standard first aid examination and assessment.
Regardless of the apparent extent of injury, ALL victims of any type of electrical injury should be given this assessment:
Electrical injury often causes a person to stop breathing. If the victim's breathing has stopped, immediately start rescue breathing (artificial respiration) and give oxygen if available. If there is adequate circulation and a flow of oxygen to the lungs can be maintained until the electricity induced paralysis wears off, the person may start breathing again on their own.
Exposure to electricity may cause cardiac arrest (where the heart actually stops) or ventricular fibrillation (where the rhythm of the heart is thrown out of rhythm). In either case, cardiopulmonary resuscitation should be started and maintained until a normal cardiac rhythm is attained.
Immobilize and cover the victim. Treat for shock. If you picture a bottle that is completely full as the usual equilibrium amount of life force and energy, shock happens when some sort of physical or emotional stress causes drains or removes parts of a person's "bottle of life." Signs of shock can include restlessness, irritability, fast pulse and fast breathing, skin that is cool, moist, and pale or bluish in colour. There also may be nausea and vomiting as well as drowsiness and loss of consciousness. Treatment for shock involves trying to maintain a balance, not giving anything to eat or drink, having the person lay down and maintaining a normal body temperature. Remember NOT to take shock lightly. Shock can kill.
Where electricity enters and leaves the body it will leave burns. These are known as the entrance and exit wounds. Electrical burns can be very deceiving because the exterior appearance of the burn may not look serious, but the injury is hidden underneath the visible layer. Electrical contact has the potential of causing deep tissue injuries that may not be visible or immediate. These burns tend to be very deep and are slow to heal. It is best to not attempt to treat entrance and exit wounds, but instead to cover them with clean dressings and have them dealt with at the emergency health care facility.
Electric shock often causes involuntary muscle contraction and spasm. Depending on the amount of current flowing, the electricity may cause contractions that are strong enough to damage bones, cartilage, muscles and other connective tissue.
All electric shock victims should be transported to an emergency health care facility under the supervision of emergency responders (i.e., ambulance), regardless of their apparent extent of symptoms. ALL electrical injury patients should be given a thorough assessment in the emergency department of the health care facility. Besides the above-mentioned considerations, additional testing should be carried out to determine the extent of damage the electricity has caused to other tissues, organs and/or organ systems. Additional testing should include a complete urinalysis, as well as blood tests assessing the CBC, BUN, and creatinine level. Remember that symptoms of this type of injury may not be immediately apparent.
Electrical injuries may cause damage that requires the follow-up assistance of health care professionals in an array of specializations. One such follow-up example relates to the eyes. Electrical flashes are known as arc flashes. These arcs emit ultraviolet radiation and can be very damaging to unprotected eyes. If you can help it, do not look directly at an electrical arc. The damage done to the eyes can include blistering on the eyeballs that can cause blindness or other serious eye injury. Eye injuries resulting from arcing may not be apparent immediately and in fact may not start to appear until five or six hours after the event. People involved in electrical injury should follow up with an eye specialist, as needed.
 | This section has examined some of the effects of electricity on the human body. This knowledge will be important to you in making informed decisions with regards to emergency situations involving electricity. |
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