Be Safe Around Electricity | Test Your Electricity Knowledge
[Source: Energy Feature, Ruralite Magazine, August 2005]
When electricity comes into contact with a person or something he or she is touching, the results can be deadly. One's natural instinct is to get out of a car if power lines are dangling across it. In almost all cases, that is the wrong thing to do.
Tragedy was averted following a recent crash in Oregon, thanks to warnings from bystanders. As a motorist came upon a crash scene, a live wire fell across her car. A nearby resident, firefighters and a power company employee hollered at her to stay in the car. Evidently confused and frightened, the woman ignored the warnings and exited the vehicle. Luckily, she was not injured, but firefighters kept her from removing her infant to prevent either of them from getting electrocuted. The infant remained safely inside the vehicle while power was shut off.
If power lines come in contact with your vehicle, stay inside until help arrives, unless the vehicle is in imminent risk of catching on fire. If the line is energized and you step out of the car, your body becomes the path for the electricity and you can be electrocuted.
Call or signal for help and wait until the electric utility shuts off the power. If the vehicle is on fire – or you smell gas and have reason to believe the care is going to ignite – jump from the vehicle with both feet hitting the ground at the same time. Do not merely step out. Jump clear, without touching the vehicle and the ground at the same time. Hop or shuffle to safety keeping both feet together as you leave the area.
Like the ripples in a pond, voltage diminishes the farther out it is from the source. Stepping from one voltage level to another allows the body to become a patch for the electricity. A large difference in voltage between both feet could kill you. Even if a power line has not landed on your vehicle but is on the ground nearby, getting out of the vehicle poses a danger. The ground could be energized, so stay inside if you are not at risk from fire.
All it takes for electricity carried through power liens to find its way to the ground is a conductor. That can be you.
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