A NARROW ESCAPE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 56, Issue 4044, 6 May 1938, Page 4

A NARROW ESCAPE

ACCIDENT AT ARAPUNI. SEVERE ELECTRIC SHOCK. When he came in contact with an 11,000 volt conductor on Wednesday afternoon, Mr James Birse, 32, married, an employee at the Arapuni electric power station, received severe burns. He was taken to the Waikato Hospital in a St. John ambulance and his condition is now regarded as satisfactory. The protecting gates of the steel frameworks which surround the high tension apparatus are kept locked when the gear is alive, but when Mr Birse was cleaning an insulator the current had been cut off. Apparently, however, he entered by mistake the gates of the cubicle in which the apparatus was connected, receiving a severe shock. His plight was seen immediately, and he was removed from the cubicle unconscious.

First aid was given by the ambulance officer at the station, and before being taken to the Waikato Hospital the injured man received attention from a doctor at iPutaruru. He was unconscious for about 15 minutes, having received burns on both arms, the right shoulder and the right leg.