Electrocution is no joke. It can cause severe burns, difficulty breathing, and your heart could give out if the shock causes a heart attack. Electrical components at any job pose a major risk to employees, particularly in the manufacturing and construction sectors.
One in every five worker deaths in America alone is caused by an electric shock at construction sites. If you are electrocuted on the job, there are specific things you need to keep in mind.
Seek Medical Attention
Do not wait a few hours; you need to find medical assistance immediately. Electric shocks can have after-effects that may not present themselves early on. Similar to having a stroke where you don’t know until it’s too late, you could get burns near vital organs. You may not even notice that you have been physically affected because the adrenaline keeps you from feeling any pain. The danger is that if you don’t spot a burn early enough, it could get infected.
Electrocution can have a profound effect on the body and disrupt normal neurological functions. You may lose function in your limbs or even break a bone if you get knocked off your feet. A medical professional can evaluate you for early warning signs that you need to be admitted to the hospital.
Speak With An Attorney
Being electrocuted can be very stressful for any person, and it’s a medical situation that needs to be attended to. If the electric shock was caused by faulty wiring or unsafe business practice, speaking with a construction accident lawyer is something worth doing. Following the accident, try to remember and write down as much detail as possible. Everything leading up to the electrocution and shortly after can make a difference if you need to file a legal case against your employer.
There are specific workmen’s compensation clauses that exist to protect employees from just such events. You may need to claim this to cover any wages lost or medical bills incurred for treatment.
Practice Precaution
As hard as you may try, there will always be some accidents that happen on the job. Whether a small procedure was missed or someone forgot to unplug any electrical appliance, accidents happen. The only way to prevent these from happening is by keeping an eye out for foreseeable issues. When someone is electrocuted on the job, it should automatically cause the business to evaluate its safety and security policies to make sure that it never happens again.
Call for a refresher health and safety seminar and retrain staff on proper procedures. Don’t take something like this lightly because it can be fatal. You may have just been a lucky person this time around, but someone could very well die from an electric shock.
In most cases, an electrocution accident is debilitating. The person may not be able to walk or barely function following an accident like this. The first step is to call for medical help and get them checked out immediately.
