RISKS WITH ELECTRICITY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21266, 21 February 1931, Page 12

RISKS WITH ELECTRICITY.

Another coroner’s inquiry info the circumstances attending the death of a man from electrocution draws public attention afresh to • the necessity for the exercise of special care on the part of inexperienced persons in the handling of electrical appliances. In this particular instance the unfortunate recipient of a fatal shock had been engaged in adjusting an electric iron. This may be said to be the age of electricity, which is so much a domestic asset that practically everybody uses it. And yet electricity remains a mysterious force. The manner of the application of it to everyday purposes is very largely a sealed book to the average person, and is properly understood only by experts—those who have studied the subject and those who have received a technical training in such matters... It is an old saying that familiarity breeds contempt. The apparent simplicity of the way in which it is possible for accidents to happen sometimes where electricity is. concerned must impress itself on every mind. The moral concerning the risk that persons may incur in handling appliances that serve as a medium for the utilisation of a powerful force such as electricity with the properties of which they are not very familiar is only too apparent. Electrical installations and appliances are not proper subjects for interference by others than those who have been trained to give them expert attention, and whose business it is to do so. Every now and again unfortunate incidents are recorded, in which carelessness and ignorance play a part, resulting from the non-observance of this rule. It is not that no warnings are issued to the public, and yet the fatality of this week in Dunedin is one of a kind that is too common. Such accidents are not, of course, all due to ignorance of the fact that there is a danger to be guarded against, but even in that knowledge some persons no doubt handle electrical appliances, such as are in common use, in an overconfident or thoughtless manner. The recent unfortunate occurrence may well have created uneasiness in the minds of those who use electric irons, and the suggestion of the coroner that it might be advisable for the authorities to make public some information regarding the handling of these implements bears the appearance of a useful recommendation. Warnings relative to the danger of meddling with electrical fittings cannot be too frequently repeated. It might even be advisable that they should be printed in prominent characters on every account that is sent out by the Electric Power and Light Department. Certainly some simple instructions enjoining the avoidance of all risks that are associated with the use of common electrical appliances should find their way from time to time to every household.