FATAL ELECTRIC SHOCK

Northern Advocate, 7 June 1933, Page 7

FATAL ELECTRIC SHOCK

COIiONIAf* WARNING

TAMP]'] RING WITH INSTALLATION*. (Special id “Northern Advocate."; AUCKLAND, This .Day, An inquest concerning The death of Abraham Thomas Cook, aged 2U, who was electrocuted at (biehunga. on May JtJ, was held yesterday at Onehunga before Air C, H. Levien, S.AI. Roy Keeling, electrician, said that' mi the date in question he examined the portable lead cable which deceased had carried, lie found it lying on a concrete door in a pool of water. It was badly perished. He found sis joints and a fracture, all of which had been hound with insulation tape, and not rubber, as should have been the case. In returning his verdict that death was due to au accidental electric shock, the coroner issued a general public warning against the danger of tampering with lighting and power installations. The case under review, he said, served to accentuate the risk of interfering with tin otherwise useful commodity. I’eopJe used it so frequently that it was often treated with disrespect, and they thought they could lit up any kind of apparatus for their ime in order to get a job done cheaply, which was contrary to the regulations. Mr Levien pointed out‘the extreme

danger of interfering with the wiring of electric, lighting or radio sets. Electricity, properly controlled, was quite harmless, but in incompetent hands it was deadly, and the death of Cook should bo an example to amateurs, who should leave such matters t o com potent oflicials.