INQUEST RE-OPENED

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 79, Issue 7139, 30 November 1949, Page 6

INQUEST RE-OPENED

INTO SHEARING FATALITY DANGER FROM ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES A verdict of death-from asphyxia as a result of receiving an electric shock from a portable electric shearing machine was teturned by the district coroner ■ (Mr C. A. Reilly), when the inquest into the death of Mr John Murray Askew was reopened in the Te Awamutu Coroner’s Court last Monday morning. Evidence as to the cause of death was given by Dr J. K. F. Watson. Mr Askew was found lying in his cowshed, where he had been shearing •' a few sneep, on November 11th last. ' Mr Askew had been using a portable type, American-made electric shearing machine from which he had received the fatal electric shock. Evidence was given by Mr B. S. Marshall distribution engineer, of the State Hydro Department in Hamilton and also by Mr A. J. Tailby, chief electrical inspector for the Te Awamutu Power Board. Mr Tailby stated that he had been called to the scene of the accident on November 11th last and he conducted several tests with the machine which ha found to be in perfect working order. The machine had been switched off at the handle when Mr Askew had been electrocuted. Electric Current Reversed The motor of the machine was contained in the bakelite handle and excepting for two brush-holder screws on the rear side portions of the handle was well insulated. The two screws were concealed and protected with bakelite screws which fitted into the main insulation of the handle. The machine had been connected to a three-pin plug on the wall by a good quality wejil tween the machine and the wall plug, a bayonet-type lampholder adaptor had been used. The use of the adaptor had had the effect of reversing' the current through the neutral phase into the motor of the machine and the brushes in the motor and the motor itself were alive although the machine was not operating. 1 Mr Askew had apparently either dropped the machine or had it kicked out of his hand onto the concrete floor of the cowshed which was dry. The fall had shattered one of the baktelite screws covering the brass scirews which held the brushes in place. Pieces of bakelite which had been picked up off the floor were identified by Mr Tailby who stated that he did not think there was any doubt /they were pieces of the broken screw Because the current had been reversed through the machine through ; the adaptor Mr Askew had been electrocuted when he recovered the machine and his hand had come in contact with the bared screw. Additional Insulation Needed ' Mr C. A. Reilly asked if there Was anything which could be dans to make the machine safer to use. Mr Tailby replied that the brushes should be incorporated inside the body where they would be protected by pie structural strength of the body of the machine. Besides that ,a rubber insulation sleeve or insulation tape could be used to cover the bakelite screw covers, protecting them from being broken and protecting the user if thiey were. Some farmers, he said had used that method already. The fact, that they had to use insulation tape to make the machine safer was an indication that the machine was a,n undesirable type while the brushes were so easily exposed by a slight bump which would shatter the bakelite screw covers over the brass screw brush-holders. He continued that the machine was a good quality one, handy and useful to farmers and the only bad feature about it was the, easily exposed brush-holders. Mr Reilly asked if the use of the adaptor was legal. Mr Tailby stated that he did not think a prosecution would succeed in such cases although the use of the adaptor was a contravention of the regulations. Danger of Illegal Fittings

Mr Reilly stated that the danger of the public using illegally fitted electrical appliances should be pointed out. From Mr Tailby, he obtained the information that many electrical fittings could be obtained from shops which did not employ registered electricians. Many people, said Mr Tailby, fitted electrical appliances such as the adaptors to installations without knowing what they were doing. It was not the first time that he had known fatalities caused by the use of an improper electrical fitting and he thought that there should be more control exercised over the sale of fittings to the public who attempted to fit such appliances themselves with fatal results, if not to themselves, then to others in some cases. The public should know that it was illegal to fit electrical ' equipment which could constitute a danger to life.

Constable J. G. Williamson, stated that the matter had been taken up by the Federated Farmers and all branches of that organisation had been or were being circularised about the machine and potential danger to life which arose from using it without additional protection of the bakelite screws covering the brush-holders.