Building and Energy has highlighted the dangers of handling damaged electrical equipment following an electric shock and serious hand burns received by a 10-year-old girl in Tuart Hill who touched a broken fan.
The youngster was hospitalised and required skin graft operations and ongoing care for five major electrical burns on her fingers.
As the State Government’s electrical safety regulator, Building and Energy linked up with the child’s mother to highlight the dangers of handling damaged electrical equipment, particularly by children.
“There are so many ‘what-ifs’,” the mother said.
“I’m very thankful because it could have been much worse.”
The child said she dropped the tower fan in her bedroom in April, causing the top plastic cover to dislodge and the button panel to fall out.
Trying to be helpful by fixing it, she undid a screw to lift off the displaced cover.
“I had plugged the fan into the wall to see if it still worked,” she said.
“While the cover was off, I reached over to get the lid to put it back on. When I moved my hands over the top of the fan, they were pulled towards it. I couldn’t get my hands off.”
Acting Executive Director at Building and Energy, Matthew Peacock, said the girl was very lucky to have avoided more significant injuries from the 240-volt appliance.
“Without the plastic cover, ‘live’ 240-volt uninsulated components inside the fan were exposed,” Mr Peacock said.
“It appears that electrical current flowed through (her) body, without a fault path to earth, and she effectively became part of the circuit,” he said.
““In this case, the residual current device – or RCD safety switch – did not detect the fault because there was no imbalance of current between the active and neutral conductors.”
Mr Peacock said the incident was a timely reminder to stop using damaged electrical equipment straight away.
“Do not attempt to repair it yourself,” he said.
Mr Peacock and the young girl’s mother are urging parents to talk to children about electrical safety and why they should immediately tell an adult about any shocks, tingles or damaged electrical appliances.
“All shocks and tingles should be reported to the network operator, which is usually Western Power (13 13 51) in Perth and south-west WA or Horizon Power (13 23 51) in most other regional areas,” Mr Peacock said.
More information about electric shocks can be accessed in a fact sheet produced by Building and Energy and available at this PS News link.
