Electric shock: how a shock occurs, signs and consequences of electrical injury

Electrical injuries occur in everyday life and at work quite often, because people are surrounded by a large number of devices. To avoid electric shock, it is necessary to know in as much detail as possible what an electrical injury is, why it occurs and what safety rules exist when working with various devices.

The concept of electrical injury

Electric trauma is called damage to organs and systems of the body under the influence of electric current. For the first time, the death of a person from an electric current was recorded in French Lyon, where a carpenter died after being hit by an alternator. According to statistics, in modern Russia more than 30 thousand people die from such injuries every year. No one is immune from this dangerbecause electricity surrounds people everywhere. Most often, young men suffer from electric shock.

The human body is the best conductor of electrical energy. A person receives an electric shock when interacting with live parts of faulty equipment or as a result of non-observance of safety precautions. A shock of more than 1 mA is felt painfully.

You can also suffer without touching current-carrying elements, for example, with a current leak or a breakdown of an air gap, when an electric arc is formed.

The severity of the injuries received depends on the nature of the current, discharge power, exposure time, place of contact, individual characteristics of the victim (health, age, body moisture).

Electric shock is considered one of the most dangerous injuries, because they often lead to death. Electrical injury is received in many situations:

• grasping a bare wire or electrical appliance that is energized;
• by touching the metal structure, which turned out to be under voltage due to an accident;
• by touching two energized phases at the same time;
• touching a wet wall and a source of electricity at the same time;
• being in the impact zone of a broken power line next to a wire lying on the ground;
• trying to repair an electrical appliance and not observing safety precautions;
• hiding during a thunderstorm under the crown of a tree or talking on a cell phone.

Types of electric shock

The classification of electric shock is based on the nature and degree of its impact on the human body. Depending on this, a distinction is made between:

1. Electric sign. At the site of the lesion, the skin turns red and acquires specific signs from heat and chemical exposure. They can be round or oval and have sharp outlines. The color changes from gray to yellowish. Skin necrosis and cell death occur, so the patient does not feel pain during this period. After a while, the skin regains its original color and elasticity.
2. Metallization of the skin. Occurs when metal particles from a molten wire are trapped under the skin. A brownish (from iron) or bluish-yellow (from copper) spot appears at the site of the lesion. The injury is not fatal. After a short time, the skin regains its normal color, and the pain goes away.
3. Electrophthalmia. This is a reaction that occurs after exposure to the retina of the eye with ultraviolet rays. This happens most often during welding. In order not to get such an injury, you need to follow safety rules.
4. Electrical burns are the most common injury of this type. It has a contact form when, upon contact with a source, current flows through the body. In this case, two holes necessarily appear - the inlet (usually on the arm) and the outlet (on the foot).
5. Mechanical damage. They arise when the current acts on the human body for a long time. A strong discharge leads to the fact that the victim has tears of ligaments and muscles, dislocations and fractures of the limbs, as well as damage to the neurovascular bundle. Usually the listed types of injuries are combined and lead to a serious condition of the patient.
6. Electric shock. The most dangerous for humans, as it leads to serious disorders of the body, and in many cases - to death. Problems from such a lesion can arise immediately or appear after a while. The victims are diagnosed with arrhythmia, angina pectoris, hypertension, disorders of the nervous and endocrine systems, problems with memory and attention.

The main symptoms

If a person is electrocuted in front of relatives or colleagues, then there can be no doubt about the diagnosis. The victim must be immediately taken to a medical facility. If the misfortune happened when the wounded was alone, then determine whether it was an electric shock, can be on the following grounds:

• the victim lies next to a source of electricity (conscious or not);
• lack of breathing, pulse;
• shock;
• memory loss;
• pallor of the skin;
• traces of electric shock on the skin;
• the smell of burning.

Particular attention should be paid to the injured children. Signs of an electric shock are heavy breathing, seizures, severe pallor, lethargy, or hyperactivity.

Help to the victim

Witnesses of the incident must first move the victim to a safe distance from the energy source. If a person grabbed a bare wire, and his hands were cramped, then it is necessary to break the electrical circuit. First of all, you need to take care of the safety of those who came to the rescue. Always wear rubber gloves and boots, and turn off the switch. The wire can be laid aside with a wooden stick. If the victim's clothing is wet, do not touch it with bare hands.

Having pulled a person to a safe place, you need to understand what state he is in: is the pulse felt, is the heart working.

If the victim is conscious, he is asked for his name, age and other data in order to understand that he has not lost his memory. A patient who has received an electrical injury should be taken to the hospital as soon as possible. The duration of recovery after an accident depends on the strength of the lesion and on how correctly and quickly the resuscitation measures were carried out.

The consequences of trauma

In case of severe electric shock, a lethal outcome is not excluded. Survivors of such trauma are usually in a coma. The victim is diagnosed with unstable work of the heart and respiratory system, convulsions, mechanical damage, hypovolemic shock, renal failure.

The consequences of electric shock can affect the functioning of almost any organ in the human body. Electrical injury provokes malfunctioning of the heart and blood vessels, exacerbates chronic diseases (for example, stomach and duodenal ulcers), causes pulmonary edema, loss of vision and hearing. With the contraction of the heart muscle, a heart attack is not excluded.

No one can prevent violations in the operation of electrical appliances. But in order not to get serious injuries, you must follow the safety rules. In this case, the risk is significantly reduced.