If you're an electrician, you're at an increased risk for electrical shocks and burns. Your employees are also at an increased risk for these types of injuries. Because of that, it's important that you know how to react when an injury occurs. Knowing how to react after an electrical injury can help protect you and your employees. Here are four steps you need to take if someone suffers an electrical shock or burn.
Turn Off the Power Supply
If someone on your crew suffers an electrical shock, or burn, the first thing you need to do is turn off the power supply to the area. Turning the power off will allow you to approach your employee without sustaining an injury of your own. It will also stop any electrical currents that are still flowing through the employee's body. Be sure to avoid any live wires while shutting down the power. Once the power is off, you'll be able to approach your employee without risk to yourself.
Assess the Injuries
Once you're able to get to your employee, you'll want to assess the injuries. If your employee fell from a ladder or another elevated area, there may be additional injuries that you'll need to address. Assessing the injuries will allow you to get a clearer picture of the accident. You'll want to stabilize your employee as quickly as possible. One word of caution: avoid moving your employee. Moving people after an electrical injury can cause additional injuries.
Clean the Burn
If your employee has sustained an electrical burn, you'll want to clean the area. To do that, remove any clothing from that area. Take care when removing the clothing though; you don't want to cause further damage to the skin. To clean the burn, you'll want to rinse the area with fresh water. Don't use soap or other cleansing agents though. Once the area is rinsed, cover the burn with clean medical gauze. That will protect the burn until you can get medical care for your employee.
Seek Medical Care
Finally, if your employee has suffered an electrical injury, you'll want to seek medical care as soon as possible. If your employee lost consciousness during the event, you'll need to call 911 for help. If your employee is awake and alert, you can take them to a local urgent care center or emergency room for medical care. For more information on medical care, contact services like the Chicago Electrical Trauma Rehabilitation Institute.
Share28 September 2020
My name is Dan and this is my blog. I am a recently singled father of three that is learning everything about caring for my kids as I go along. Before my wife passed, she was the one that took care of the kids when they were sick or injured, so I had a lot of learning to do and I had to do it as quickly as possible. I got together with some of the parents from my kids' school and they helped out quite a bit. I created my blog for two reasons - to keep my facts straight and to help other parents learn what I have struggled to learn.