Electric shock. What is an electrical injury? Help in case of electric shock, consequences and protection against electric shock. Electrical shock What happens if 10,000 volts hit

10,000 VOLT INSTEAD OF BAITED

Every year in the emergency department of the Burn Center of the Research Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. N.V. Sklifosovsky ends up with up to three thousand people. The sad palm is occupied by patients after “communication” with fire. In second place are those who were scalded with boiling water, in third place are chemical burns. And only 5% of the total number are people with electric shock injuries. The head of the Burn Center, Professor Sergei SMIRNOV, talks about what is behind this figure in a conversation with a correspondent:

This FIGURE is not constant. In winter, the number of electrocuted people is always smaller, but with the onset of summer, a real disaster begins: the skin sweats, thunderstorms thunder, electricians are too lazy to put on protective suits due to the heat, and in addition, the summer season opens, when everyone is “his own electrician.”

There is a common belief that electricians develop a special immunity, and electricity is not dangerous for them.

This is true for low voltage, but as for high voltage, it is electricians who make up the vast majority of our severe patients. Please, a case from practice. The mechanic stood on a three-meter stand, repairing the transformer. The stand began to shake, and the mechanic, trying to maintain his balance, grabbed the 6,000-volt wire with his hand. Another, squatting, connected a 350 VAC wire and closed the circuit on himself.

What about the safety rules?

Our statistics say that 75% of electrical injuries occur at work due to non-compliance with safety regulations. This includes trolleybus drivers who, with their bare hands, straighten rods that have come off wires (and this is 550 V), and workers who drag energized transformers. There are many cases at a construction site when the boom of a construction crane accidentally touches electrical wires: the current spreads through all metal parts of the crane and hits workers who are removing or hanging the load. Almost none of them return to construction after this: some develop a fear of electricity, while others suffer greatly from the vestibular apparatus after the defeat. Many become disabled.

Let's move away from production. The remaining 25% probably consists of everyday episodes.

Of course, there are accidents from which no one is immune. At night, two women were walking along the road and stepped into a puddle in which lay the end of a broken wire. The current passed through the lower loop - it entered through one leg and exited through the other. The same thing can happen if you walk through a wet field during a thunderstorm.

Long-term observations show that the lower leg-to-leg loop occurs the least often and is considered the least dangerous. Most often it goes to the hands (top loop). And the most dangerous is considered to be a full loop (both arms, both legs), since in this case the current necessarily passes through the brain and heart.

Teenagers riding on the roofs of electric trains add to the sad list of victims. They usually sit on a motor carriage and consider themselves safe because they do not touch the wires. But the head is so close to the high-voltage voltage (3000 V) that an electric arc occurs: electrons from the wire jump to a nearby conductor - to the head.

You can also suffer from an arc during a thunderstorm. A lightning strike and a person almost immediately loses consciousness. Some, upon coming to their senses, feel dizzy, weak, and drowsy. With such symptoms, few people think of seeing a doctor. Meanwhile, the insidiousness of electrical trauma lies in the fact that it does not have any special signs and upon external examination it does not manifest itself in any way; but anyone who has been electrocuted needs immediate consultation with a specialist.

What is the difference between trauma and burn?

When they say that a person was killed by an electric current of five or ten thousand volts, this means that death occurred from trauma. Electrical trauma damages the entire body. Example: a person grabs high-voltage wires with both hands, causing damage to the heart, nervous system and skin. Electrical trauma in its pure form is dealt with by cardiologists. But trauma and burns most often occur together.

An electric burn is the result of a local effect of current on tissue, that is, it affects only part of the body. Marks remain at the current entry and exit points. If the marks are located close (for example, a person touches the wire with his shoulder and forearm), then an electrical burn occurs on the skin, tissue, muscles, and bones.

Burns are treated in the surgical department. As a surgeon, I can say that very often it is necessary to perform mutilation, that is, amputation of limbs or their segments.

As far as I know, recently the number of victims of electrical injuries has been increasing. What is this connected with?

The explanation lies in the economic field. In the last ten years, the population has become so impoverished that people are climbing into transformer boxes and power lines to extract non-ferrous metals and high-voltage wires and sell them. And this kind of “business” is not done by stupid teenagers, but by fully grown, mature people.

In recent years, “electric poachers” have been increasingly arriving at our center. For fishing, they choose a lake over which a power line passes. They take their wire, throw one end onto the line, and the other into the water. Of course, all living things in the water die immediately. But there are times when a naughty wire, instead of falling into the water, overtakes the poacher himself.

Are there cases when electrical injuries go away without consequences?

There are. Many patients come to us with minor injuries, without complaints and without any “findings” in the heart or other organs.

But if we are talking about serious cases, then even after several years, persistent disorders of the nervous system remain. And in addition, after an electric shock, the pain of a stomach ulcer intensifies, radiculitis worsens, and long-healed fractures begin to hurt. But current not only intensifies those diseases that existed before, it can become a trigger for epilepsy and schizophrenia. Provided that before that they were in a hidden state.

First aid

It would be GOOD, of course, if there was a doctor near the victim at the time of the electric shock. But...

if you are able to move after an electric shock, immediately go to the nearest hospital or medical center;

if someone is working with electrical wiring in your presence, try not to leave him unattended: in the moment of electric shock, he will not be able to call for help or simply scream to attract attention;

a person exposed to voltage below 380 volts literally sticks to the current source and is unable to free himself. This can happen for two reasons. First: out of confusion, he cannot figure out what he is doing. Second: contact with electricity can cause him to lose consciousness. Those around you should immediately open the circuit - unplug the cord from the outlet or press the switch. But if this is impossible, it is necessary to knock the wire out of the person’s hands with a stick, stool or other non-conductive object, or - with the same stool - push him away from the wire. You can simply push with your foot - provided that the shoes do not conduct current;

practice shows that after contact with current a person is most often unconscious. Therefore, the first thing the victim needs is mouth-to-mouth artificial respiration. To do this, you need to put it down, throw back your head and push your lower jaw forward. Pinch your nose, put a handkerchief over your mouth and begin to inhale air through it - 3-4 breaths, and press on your chest, and so on until a pulse appears. It is also advisable to check his pupils: as long as they remain narrow, there is hope of bringing the person back to life.

Electrical injuries happen quite often at home and at work, because people are surrounded by a large number of devices. To avoid electric shock, you need to know as much as possible what electrical injury is, why it occurs, and what safety rules exist when working with various devices.

Electrical injury concept

Electrical injury is damage to organs and body systems caused by electric current. The first death from electric shock was recorded in Lyon, France, where a carpenter died after being struck by an alternating current generator. According to statistics, in modern Russia more than 30 thousand people die annually from such injuries. No one is immune from this danger, because 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 failure to follow safety precautions. An electric shock with a force of more than 1 mA is painful.

You can get hurt without touching live elements, for example, due to a current leak or breakdown of the air gap when an electric arc is formed.

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

Electric shock is one of the most dangerous injuries, as it can often result in death. Electrical injury occurs in many situations:

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 they distinguish:

Main symptoms

If a person was electrocuted in front of loved ones or colleagues, then there can be no doubt about the diagnosis. The victim must be immediately sent to a medical facility. If the accident occurred when the wounded person was alone, then determine whether there was an electric shock, possible based on the following criteria:

Particular attention should be paid to affected children. Signs of an electric shock include heavy breathing, convulsions, extreme paleness, lethargy, or hyperactivity.

Help for the victim

Witnesses to the incident must first move the victim to a safe distance from the energy source. If a person grabs a bare wire and his hands cramp, 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 help. Be sure to wear rubber gloves and boots, and also turn off the switch. The wire can be pulled to the side using a wooden stick. If the victim's clothes are wet, do not touch them with bare hands.

Having dragged a person to a safe place, you need to understand what condition he is in: whether the pulse is palpable, whether the heart is working.

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

Consequences of injury

In case of severe electric shock, death cannot be ruled out. Survivors of such trauma are usually in a coma. The victim is diagnosed with unstable functioning of the heart and respiratory system, convulsions, mechanical damage, hypovolemic shock, and renal failure.

The consequences of electric shock can affect the functioning of almost any organ in the human body. Electrical trauma provokes malfunctions of the heart and blood vessels, aggravates chronic diseases (for example, stomach and duodenal ulcers), causes pulmonary edema, loss of vision and hearing. When the heart muscle contracts, a heart attack cannot be ruled out.

No one can prevent malfunctions in the operation of electrical appliances. But to avoid serious injury, you should follow safety rules. In this case, the risk is significantly reduced.

Vasily Strakha from Luknovo, Koropsky district, ended up in the ATO zone when he was only 20. He is the youngest mobilized in the entire region. Vasya celebrated his 21st birthday in a trench in the Donetsk region. And a month later, in May last year, he almost died - a current discharge of 10,000 volts passed through his body.

He was demobilized last September. He talks about his experiences during the war with a little embarrassment.

“I really wanted to join the army, so when the summons came for military service (and then to the ATO zone), there was no thought about “sloping off,” says Vasily. — I did my military service first in Desna, and then in Crimea. It coincided that as soon as I served and returned home, the occupation of the peninsula began. I stayed at home for six months, worked as a tractor driver, and then I was mobilized to the ATO zone.

He ended up in the 25th Airborne Brigade and was a machine gunner in a reconnaissance airborne company. A year ago, in January, we stood near Avdeevka, Donetsk region. I'll be honest: it was difficult. They fired at us harshly - from mortars, "grads"... I remember the first shelling most of all, because then I was very scared, if it weren't for the experienced guys, I don't know how I would have survived. I experienced the subsequent shelling more calmly and did not panic so much.

I got used to it and acted automatically. Over time, some kind of intuition even appeared, which more than once saved the lives of me and my brothers-in-arms. One day we were chatting with the guys, and my heart became so anxious! I say: “Guys, let’s get out of here. Let's move to another place." And we had just crossed over when a shell fell and exploded where we were! Can you imagine?!

The guys then joked that I was a seer. And once, during a mortar attack, I and another soldier were hiding in a trench. I did not sit next to him, but opposite him. And right before my eyes, a shrapnel hit him and pierced his bulletproof vest. I couldn’t do anything, he died in my arms... Experiencing this is the most difficult thing.

After Avdeevka, I served near Konstantinovka, Donetsk region. One day, my comrades and I were observing the area from our checkpoint. We see: some car is driving not far from the railway track. My partner Zhenya and I went on reconnaissance to find out what kind of car it was and what it was doing there. As soon as they began to approach, the car drove away, leaving two men behind.

They saw us and began to run away. We are behind them. While running along the path, I did not notice the broken high-voltage wire and hooked it with a machine gun. I remember being thrown up and falling a few meters from that place. All he had time to do was shout: “Zhenya, save me!” And he passed out.

Zhenya ran up and began to give me artificial respiration and cardiac massage. I woke up, but I couldn’t move - it felt like my whole body was numb. My right leg hurt very badly. We saw a large round wound a little above the foot. Zhenya gave me some water to drink and tried to get me to my feet, but I couldn’t walk. Then he carried me on his shoulders, but on the road to the checkpoint there was a small hill that he did not have the strength to cross. Gathering my will into a fist, I began to help him, pushing a little with my feet. We crossed a hill and a forest plantation, and then our guys came running to help. I was taken to the hospital in Konstantinovka.

The doctors said that it was a miracle that I survived because that railroad had a high-voltage line with a voltage of 10,000 volts! The current passed through the whole body and exited through the leg. I experienced clinical death and received a third degree concussion. And one elderly nurse said: “You’re lucky, boy, that you have a cross and a church ribbon on your hand.” My mother gave me a cross and a ribbon. Maybe they really saved me. I decided to tell my mother about what happened to me only the next day, when I was transported to Dimitrov, Donetsk region.

“He called and said: “Mom, what are you doing?” “I answered that I would field corn,” recalls Natalya Alexandrovna. - Vasya then: “I was shocked. My heart stopped." As soon as I heard it, I sat down with a hoe in my hand in the field. I don’t know how long I sat there. I cried and couldn't stop. When she calmed down, she said: “So it’s too early for you to die, son.”

In Dimitrov, Vasily’s burned skin was cut out and the wound was bandaged. A few days later he was transferred to the Dnepropetrovsk hospital, where he was given a referral for treatment to Kyiv. At the Kiev military hospital he underwent skin graft surgery. A large scar on his leg reminds him of an electric shock.

“The first weeks after the operation I walked on crutches. My leg hurt so much, even painkillers didn’t help,” says Vasily. “After looking at guys like me, but without legs and arms, I realized that I was lucky. Although I had to undergo treatment almost all summer, and then also undergo rehabilitation in Irpen, Kyiv region.

— We are very proud of Vasya. He is so young, and already has a diploma “For conscientious performance of military duty,” a medal “War Veteran” and a badge “For exemplary military service.”

His 5-year-old sister Dasha is especially proud of Vasya. While he was in the east, she often said: “Vasya is protecting me,” and when he returned home, she did not leave his side. She adores her older brother,” Natalya Alexandrovna smiles. - I pray for the children every day. Vasya has been through so much that he still cannot sleep peacefully.

Almost every night he pushes the walls, all his hands are knocked down. And sometimes he jumps up in the middle of the night and moves furniture - barricading himself. We hope this will pass with time...

“I have already returned to my normal life,” adds Vasily. — I work as a tractor driver at a local agricultural enterprise. Spring is coming, there will be a lot of work. I’m only glad of this - when I’m busy, I forget about the headache and everything that I had to go through.

A seven-year-old resident of the Chinese province of Sichuan was born wearing a shirt - a bare high-voltage wire fell on the boy, but the child miraculously survived, Vesti.Ru reports.

A little boy named He Haoyang was playing under a high-voltage power line. Suddenly one of the wires broke and fell right on him. After a powerful electric shock with a voltage of 10 thousand volts, the boy stood on his feet and even ran several meters away from the place where the wire fell.

The victim was quickly taken to the hospital. The surprise of the doctors knew no bounds. The child only received burns on his hands! Doctors did not find any damage to the brain or internal organs that is usual in such cases.

It remains a mystery how the boy managed to survive. After all, for several meters in the area where the wire fell, all the earth was scorched.

Comments

Wrote: My heart hurts.
There was an electric shock of 10,000 volts in the transformer box. There was a small booth on 2 floors, 5m long and 3m wide, the first floor was de-energized and the second floor was energized. We decided to remove the copper switches... There were 2 transformers, on the first floor they also removed everything, began to go up to the second floor, I decided to scratch some plate with a wrench, the key melted and a fragment flew into pieces, hit me in the chest, I touched everything, sparks crackling in my eyes, tinnitus, First he fell on his knees, then on his back, began to raise his arm, never rose, and passed out for about 7 minutes. When I recovered, my head was spinning and everything hurt. Then I was in the hospital for 2 weeks....

Posted by: Larisa
+ at the city substation they were painting a transformer, there was an order that it was turned off, but due to the negligence of the dispatchers it turned on. I was shocked by 10 thousand volts, my health is poor with a great deterioration in the heart area.