WORKMAN INJURED

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 290, 2 September 1933, Page 8

WORKMAN INJURED

Shock from Transformer FIFTEEN FEET FALL Accident While Painting Dominion Special Service. Carterton, September 1. An employee, of the Wairarapa Power Board, John Hawker, had a remarkable escape from death while engaged, I together with another workman,, in painting a transformer .through which was passing a current of 11,000 volts. He was descending the ladder when he noticed a portion of the transformer that the paint had not reached. Grasping the transformer with . his right hand, he reached out and round with the brush in his left hand. As the brush approached there was a flash of blue flame from the transformer to Mr. Hawker’s wrist? Fortunately the current went to earth by the shortest route —through the frame of the high tension pole—and he did not receive the full 11,000 volts. However, Mr. Hawker was thrown unconscious to. the ground, fifteen feet below. His companion, Mr. Al Woods, who was on the platform, was temporarily blinded by the flash, but as soon as he regained his sight he applied artificial respiration to M- Hawker, who is now making a good recovery.'