DEATHS FROM ELECTRICITY

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11913, 6 April 1933, Page 3

DEATHS FROM ELECTRICITY

HEAVY TOLL IN. AUSTRALIA. ~

SYDNEY, March 23

r : Figures showing the number of fcleaths from electricity that have taken place in recent years are contained in a statement, which has been Submitted by the Electrical Contractors and ' Electricians’ Licensing Board to the committee of experts, which ,'is investigating dangerous electrical; Apparatus. The 1 figures .show that,, during Janmnrygaridr.Ee.br.uary'”of^,"the:r ■ presentyear, eight occurred. In prevSou'a;- years tho figures were 1939, 17, .1931, 19; 1930, 14; .1929. 20. The figures were submitted to tho last meetpig, of the committee by Mr J. D. Handley;, a. member, who- is president of the Electrical Contractors and Electricians’ Licensing Board.

, -The committee deckled to appoint ji, sub-corn'mittco , of 11. to report on ."the methods which might bo adopted to ensure the safe use of domestic electrical appliances and radio nppartus.-” ' Details of fatalities and accidents were .supplied by Mr Handley. The information disclosed that in a large number of instances .accidents, often fatal were due to ignorance of the dangers of electricity and faulty installations done hy amateurs. Defective home-made hand lamps, such as are used Jflor ear repairs, were responsible for six deaths in the. last three years.

The deaths of two boys in January tthis year, according to Mr Handley’s information, were due to defective installation. An earth wire was missing. In the following month two men —one at Marrickville and the other afc Earlwood —• were electrocuted through defective head lamps. In. the same month an elderly man living at Hornsby was killed while wiring an additional power point in his horn© without having turned off the main switch. Incidentally, it was stated, he was committing a breach of the Li censing Act. •A defectively-wired hand lamp was responsible for the death of a middle-aged man at Botany'in January last year. He came in contact with five metal inside the. wire guard. A young man was killed in the following month when he came in contact with a defective and unauthorised extension of an installation, at Neutral Bay. A man of 36 was electrocuted, at Willoughby in the following month A faulty home-made lead was responsible. In another case a boy of It hame in contact with a wircljess aerial connected with) a faulty “B” battery eliminator assembled in accordance with a circuit diagram supplied with parts by a city store. The deaths •in 1931 included the electrocution of a young man at Old ‘Guildford through a defective hand lamp, .and of a middle-aged woman at Double Bay through a defective vacuum cleaner.

Allegations that large number of (electric radio sets were being installed by men who knew little about electricity were contained in an official statement issued by the Electrical Trades Union. Jt was claimed that fatalities had already occurred because _ sets haci been installed by amateurs, and that those engaged on installation work ehoulcf be required.to sit for examina tiions and be licensed. Representations, it was stated had already been made to. the Government for amending legislation to control, such workmen.