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We present the results of our investigation of 220 electrocutions. The ratio of high voltage to low voltage electrocution is found to be nearly 1:1. Further, in low voltage electrocution deaths electrical burns were absent in over 40% of the cases. Our approach to the investigation of possible electrocution, including equipment analysis, is discussed.
Immediate revelation of latent current mark (LCM) was investigated by means of macroscopic detection of metallization (M). LCM were produced on corpses using electrodes of metals most frequently involved in electrocution (iron, copper, zinc, aluminium, chrome, nickel, and brass). Also, current marks of accidental electrocutions (10 cases) were examined. Single metals can be identified by spraying specific reagents on the suspected skin. The following multiple systems can be used to simultaneously produce the above mentioned metals: A. Sequence: 10% ammonium sulphid--H2O--0.2% solochrome cyanine in 1% HCl. B. Sequence: 0.5% 2.nitroso.1.naphtol in acetone--H2O--0.2% solochrome cyanine in 1% HCl. Instead of appearing on the skin, metallization can sometimes be found on clothes or shoes. Macroscopic search for LCM metallization is a very simple method and it is recommended in both certain and suspected electrocution, as well as in cases of sudden, unexpected death, particularly during work.
A 10-year review of all patients admitted to the West of Scotland Regional Burns Unit with serious electrical burns indicated an incidence of only 2.6 cases per million of the population served by the Unit per year. Injuries following electrocution or electric flash, but excluding injuries caused by grasping the hot heating element of an electric fire, were suffered by 70 patients, 52 of whom sustained electrocution which was not immediately fatal. Ninety-one per cent of the patients were male. The patients who died in hospital did so as a result of sepsis rather than as a direct result of the electrical injury. All those patients who had ECG changes on admission recovered completely. In view of the very deep injuries, the amputation rate was high with 12 out of 52 patients (23 per cent) with electrocution injury requiring one or more amputations. The events preceding the serious electrical injury in our patients suggest that, 57 per cent of all the injuries could have been prevented, and in patients under 20 years of age this percentage rose to 91.
Experiments were performed to test the contribution of bacteria contained in the intestinal tract of broilers at the beginning of processing to counts on the exterior of modified New York-dressed carcasses. Thirty-two birds were processed for each of seven replications. Within each replication, batches of four birds were electrocuted, scalded, and picked, with batches alternating between treatment and control groups. Treated birds were cloacally plugged with rayon fiber tampons prior to electrocution to prevent escape of intestinal contents during scalding and picking. Control birds were processed in the same manner, except that cloacal plugs were inserted immediately after defeathering to reduce escape of intestinal contents during sampling. Gram-negative enteric bacteria and Campylobacter spp. were enumerated on carcasses by whole carcass rinse procedure and in cecal contents. Counts were converted to log10 and subjected to analysis of variance. Cecal levels of Gram-negative enterics were significantly higher for plugged birds, but there was not a significant difference between levels of cecal Campylobacter spp. between treatment groups. Plugging before electrocution resulted in significantly lower levels (2.5 vs 3.0 log10 cfu/mL) of Campylobacter spp. and Gram-negative enteric bacteria (3.0 vs 3.4 log10 cfu/mL) in carcass rinses of treatment birds than in those of controls. All carcasses were positive for Gram-negative enterics. Cloacal plugging resulted in significantly lower incidence of Campylobacter spp. carcass contamination as determined by chi-square. Intestinal carriage of both campylobacters and Gram-negative enteric bacteria appears to influence the microbial quality of the carcass during processing.
The study was conducted to investigate a method of reducing the potential for fecal contamination during slaughter of broiler chickens. Birds were withdrawn from feed for 4, 8, 12, or 16 h before slaughter, then subjected to an electrical treatment of either stunning at 50 V, stunning plus pulsed stimulation at 50 V, or electrocution at 200 V. Peri-mortem defecatory responses were characterized, and postmortem examinations of the lower gut contents were made. Results indicated significant increases for the following variables when analyzed as linear functions on time of feed withdrawal: 1) loss of body weight (expressed as shrink); 2) amount of excreta collected during withdrawal; and 3) frequency and amount of perimortem excretions. Cecal material was observed in the colon most often for the group withdrawn 4 h from feed. Among electrical treatments, electrocution resulted in the lowest frequency of excretion, the smallest amount of excreta, and a greater tendency toward more urinous excreta; however, these results were significantly different from only the treatment of stimulation. There were no significant differences detected among electrical treatment for contents of the various segments of the lower gut. Potential for the use of electrocution to reduce fecal loads during commercial slaughtering conditions was not conclusively demonstrated.
Cranes are machines used to move heavy objects. Cranes are operated by crane operators, usually working in conjunction with an assistant guiding the movements of the crane from his vantage point outside the crane. Few jurisdictions require that crane operators be either licensed or certified. We conducted a retrospective study of those dying of crane-related injuries in our jurisdiction during the 16 years from 1981 to 1996. All ten decedents were male, and the manner of each death was accidental. Neither ethanol nor drugs of abuse were detected in any case. Eight of the ten decedents died due to blunt force injuries, one due to mechanical asphyxia, and one due to thermal burns. Investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) led to fines ranging from $80 to $2700 in six of the ten cases. Nationwide, electrocution is the most common cause of crane-related death, but no crane-related death in Jefferson County was caused by electrocution in our study. The absence of electrocutions was due to the planned, routine suspension of power to electrical lines in the vicinity of a crane during the crane's operation, a practice saving an estimated seven lives. Nevertheless, human error or lack of planning was still responsible for most of the deaths in our study. In addition to careful planning and adherence to safety standards established by planning, we recommend the mandatory licensure and certification of professional crane operators and the assessment of larger fines by OSHA for safety standard violations.
OBJECTIVES: To determine age-specific mechanisms of electrical injury in children, to examine product safety regulation of the major sources of electrical injury hazard, and to assess the adequacy of current prevention strategies. DESIGN: Case series of 144 pediatric and adolescent electrical injuries in patients seen in the specialized burn center and tertiary care hospital between 1970 and 1995, examination of Consumer Product Safety Commission product recall reports for electrical injury hazards between 1973 and 1995, and review of the National Electric Code. RESULTS: Eighty-six cases of electrical injuries resulted from low-voltage (< 1000-V) exposures, all occurring within the home. In children aged 12 years and younger, household appliance electrical cords and extension cords caused more than 64 (63%) of 102 injuries, whereas wall outlets were responsible for only 14 (15%) of injuries. Fifty-eight cases resulted from high-voltage exposures, accounting for 38 (90%) of 42 injuries in children older than 12 years. No federal safety regulations for electrical cords exist, although voluntary standards have been adopted by many manufacturers. Among 383 consumer products identified by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to be electrical injury hazards, 119 were appliance cords, extension cords, or holiday stringed light sets. Several products numbered more than 1.5 million units in US household distribution prior to the investigation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. CONCLUSIONS: Household electrical cords are the major electrocution hazard for children younger than 12 years, yet no federal safety mandates exist. Despite voluntary standards, noncompliant manufacturers can introduce vast numbers of unsafe cords onto the US household market every year. Conversion of existing voluntary safety guidelines into federally legislated standards may be the most effective intervention against pediatric electrocutions.
Surveillance data suggest high rates of electrocutions and fatal falls among workers in electric utility companies, who may be exposed to electric current, heights, flammable agents, and frequent motor vehicle travel. To characterize the occurrence of fatal injuries among electric utility workers, we studied workers in five electric power companies in the United States. A cohort of 127,129 men hired between 1950 and 1986 was followed through 1988. Injuries at work were identified through manual review of death certificates. The occurrence of occupational injuries was analyzed with directly adjusted rates and Poisson regression. The overall rate of fatal occupational injuries was 13.20 per 100,000 person-years (n = 192), with 76% due to electric current, homicide, and falls from heights. Deaths were concentrated in a few groups with elevated injury rates, notably linemen (rate ratio (RR) 3.33), electricians (RR 2.79), and painters (RR 3.27). Occupations requiring daily work on elevations or frequent, direct contact with energized electrical equipment experienced markedly higher rates of fatal injury from falls and electrocutions with rate ratios of 21.8 (95% confidence interval (CI) 11.4-41.5) and 16.7 (95% CI 6.6-42.6), respectively, independent of worker age and seniority. Although fatal injury rates in this industry have declined in recent decades, significant numbers of deaths still occur. Based on the premise that all injuries are preventable, a need for continued vigilance and efforts at prevention is indicated.
Ninety cases of bilateral dislocation of the shoulders, including seven previously unreported cases are discussed. Forty-nine per cent were due to convulsive seizures or electrocution, 23 per cent were traumatic and 36 per cent were atraumatic. This paper indicates that many attributed to trauma were probably due to unrecognized seizure, and neurological examination is indicated in all cases. Dislocations as a result of seizures or electrocution were often diagnosed late.
The use of aluminium ladders around high voltage power lines has resulted in a significant number of electrical injuries and electrocutions. Workers often misjudge wire distances or lose control of fully extended ladders, thereby exposing themselves to electrocution hazard. High-voltage electrical burns of two workers using an aluminium ladder that contacted a high voltage power line are reported. The circumstances surrounding the injury, the clinical management of the case, and the methods of prevention are presented and discussed.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The physiology behind sudden violent death is considered in the light of information from a wide variety of clinical, experimental, forensic and veterinary sources. Physiological causes can be classified under the headings of blood loss; asphyxia; electrocution; tissue loss; destruction of brain; disconnection of brain; and poisoning. Death, although sudden, is not necessarily instantaneous; asphyxia and electrocution take some time to kill the subjects. CONCLUSIONS: The chemistry of dying, death and changes post mortem, needs more research in order to design further rational resuscitation procedures.
When a peripheral nerve is cut, a neuroma develops at its proximal end. Nerve-end neuromas are known to be a source of ectopic sensory input. In some humans this input may cause spontaneous and evoked neuropathic pain. There is currently no available animal model for developing better methods of cutting nerves that produce less painful neuromas than those currently in clinical use. Transection of the sciatic and saphenous nerves in rats also produces nerve-end neuromas. Afferent fibers in such neuromas spontaneously emit ectopic input that coincides with the outbreak of licking, scratching and self-mutilation of the denervated limb ('autotomy'). This behavior is considered to be the expression of spontaneous disagreeable sensations such as paresthesias, dysesthesias or neuropathic pain. We propose here that the autotomy model can be used as the first step for development of better neurectomy methods. As a demonstration, in this report we compared the course of autotomy expressed by rats following several methods of cutting peripheral nerves that are currently in clinical use. We found that the lowest extent of autotomy was caused by sciatic and saphenous neurectomy with a CO(2) laser. Tight ligation of the nerve, or a simple cut with scissors, also yielded significantly lower autotomy scores compared to cryoneurolysis and electrocut. The differing scores of autotomy caused by these neurectomy methods may derive from different properties of the injury discharge produced by these methods at the time of nerve cut. Our results raise the possibility that a higher incidence of neuropathic pain or related sensory disorders in humans may be expected following cryosurgical and electrocut neurectomies. If validated by further studies, neurectomy methods eliciting lower incidence of autotomy, and sensory disorders in models not based on autotomy may produce lower levels of neuropathic pain in humans.
The mechanisms and patterns of high voltage electric current injury to living tissues are not fully understood. Most available data is derived from animal experimentation using voltages that are considerably lower that those encountered by human victims during electrocution accidents. This work aims to contribute human tissue histological data by analyzing the pattern of tissue damage after a real life unfortunate high voltage electrocution accident.
Records from the Office of the North Carolina Chief Medical Examiner were used to describe 3955 deaths, both on and off the job, between 1988 and 1994 from external causes of injury (E-codes) among individuals whose usual occupation was in the construction trades. For the calculation of rates, population sizes were estimated using 1980 and 1990 census data. Deaths from injuries occurred at an average rate of 226 per 100,000 population; 213 per 100,000 for non-work-related fatalities and 13 per 100,000 for work-related fatalities. Overall, deaths were most often from guns or motor vehicle accidents. Work-related deaths were most often caused by motor vehicles (21%); falls (20%), most commonly from roofs or scaffolds; and machinery (15%), electrocutions (14%), and falling objects (10%). Three major causes of work-related motor vehicle accidents were identified including injuries to pedestrians in highway work zones and in backovers on construction sites, and injuries to drivers caused by shifting loads while transporting construction materials. The circumstances surrounding deaths involving scaffolding document the need for training and safety procedures for erecting, moving, and disassembling scaffolds, but also for safe work practices on scaffolds. Training and safety procedures to avoid electrocutions must involve workers who are not in the electrical trades, as these deaths often occurred among individuals who were not electricians or linemen. Significant differences were observed in the proportion of victims having elevated blood-alcohol levels depending on whether the injury was work-related; 57 percent of victims were impaired at the time of fatal non-work-related injuries compared to 5 percent of work-related injuries. Interventions to treat and prevent alcohol abuse among construction workers could have a significant public health impact in the prevention of premature death from injury, particularly outside the workplace.
Release of bacteria from individual broiler carcasses in warm water was measured as a model of bacterial contamination of scald water. Immediately after shackling and electrocution, feathered and genetically featherless broiler carcasses (n = 24 of each) were immersed individually in 42 degrees C, air-agitated tap water for 150 s. Although any visible fecal material expelled as a result of electrocution was removed before sampling, carcass condition was typical for market-age broilers subjected to 12 h of feed withdrawal. Duplicate water samples were taken at 10, 30, 70, 110, and 150 s, and Escherichia coli counts were determined. Samples of initial tap water and contaminated water approximately 2 min after removal of carcasses indicated that E. coli could not be detected in the original water source and that mortality of E. coli in the warm water was negligible. Mean numbers of E. coli released were 6.2 and 5.5 log(10) (cfu/carcass) at 150 s for feathered and featherless carcasses, respectively. For both feathered and featherless carcasses, the rate of release of E. coli was highest in the first 10 s, and the rate declined steadily during the remaining sampling period. This result is compatible with published reports of sampling of operating multiple-tank scalders, indicating that a high proportion of total bacteria in a multiple-tank scalder are in the first scald tank that carcasses enter. Higher numbers of E. coli released from feathered carcasses are probably due to the much greater surface area of contaminated feathers compared with the skin of featherless carcasses.
The diagnosis of low-voltage electrocution is aided by the presence of electrical burns. When the victim is immersed in water, however, the cooling effect of the water prevents heating of the tissues and eliminates the usual entry and exit points. Cases are described here in which electrical shock and water immersion combined to bring about fatal results. Although electrical shock was instrumental in bringing about these deaths, the actual cause of death in two of the cases was not electrocution, but drowning. The cases demonstrate the need for thorough site investigation, which will assist the pathologist at autopsy and also serve the community by preventing similar deaths at the same death scene.
Work-related electrical injuries and fatalities in Virginia were reviewed for the period 1977 to 1985. Of 196 workers electrocuted (0.9/100,000/year), 65% (127) died between May and September. Death rates were highest for male workers in utility companies (10.0/100,000), mining (5.9/100,000), and construction industries (3.9/100,000), but these high risk groups accounted for only 50% of the deaths. Most accidental electrocutions resulted from power line contact (53%) and machine or tool usage or repair (22%). Only 1.5% (2/101) of the workers who died within 6 hours of injury and had blood alcohol concentration tested were legally intoxicated. All workers need safety education on active measures to prevent hazardous electrical exposures, not just those at high risk for electrical injury. Every work-related electrical injury represents a sentinel health event--an opportunity for preventive intervention in the workplace.
Eighty-two patients with non-compressive myelopathy have been studied from July 1994 to June 1996 in Bangur Institute of Neurology and S.S.K.M. Hospital, Calcutta, of which 48 patients were men and 34 patients were women. Presentation was acute in 40 patients (48.78%), subacute in 7 (8.53%), chronic in 27 (32.92%) and history of relapse and remission in 8 (9.75%) patients. Preceding as well as simultaneous fever was observed in 16 cases (19.5%); vaccination (anti-rabies) in 1 case (1.21%); drug abuse in 1 case (1.21%); arthralgia-myalgia and rash in 2 cases (2.42%) and history of electrocution in 2 cases (2.42%). Only pyramidal tract involvement was present in 24 cases (29.26%) and remaining 58 cases (70.73%) had pyramidal tract affection with other sites of involvement. CSF study carried out in 60 cases, revealed rise of protein in 31 (37.8%); oligoclonal band had been detected in 6 (7.31%), pleocytosis in 18 cases (21.95%) and increased IgG index greater than 6.66 in 2 cases (2.42%). CT myelogram done in 23 cases revealed no abnormality. MRI study carried out in 59 cases showed myelomalacia in 1 (1.21%); demyelination plaque in 14 cases (17.07%); atrophy of cord in 3 (3.65%); infarction of cord in 1 (1.21%) and in 40 cases (48.78%) no abnormality could be detected. Etiological diagnosis could be established in 59 (71.95%) cases such as transverse myelitis or myelopathy (post infectious) in 24 (29.26%); demyelination in 16 (19.51%); vascular and vasculitis in 3 (3.65%); toxic in 1 (1.21%); physical (electrocution) in 2 cases (2.42%). In the remaining 23 cases (28.04%) no aetiological factors could be found.