20.4 Rescue From Live Electrical Conductors

Rescue From Live Electrical Conductors

Quick Answer: Do not touch the victim while they are in contact. Establish the voltage level — low voltage rescue techniques are lethal near high voltage. For low voltage: switch off and isolate. If you cannot, use an approved insulated rescue implement to separate victim from source. Then call for help and start CPR immediately if required.

Why This Sits in the Critical List

EPC 46 is critical because the instinct to grab a workmate is overwhelming and lethal. Electrical incidents routinely produce two casualties: the person who contacted the conductor and the person who reached for them. Queensland requires licence holders to be trained in and competent at rescue and resuscitation, refreshed within the last 12 months (Section 1.3), precisely because this is the moment where training must override instinct.

Rule One: Rescuer Safety

Before anything else:

• Do not touch the victim, the conductor, the equipment, or any metalwork they are touching.
• Do not step into a pool of water or onto wet ground connected to the fault.
• Look up and around: is the source overhead, underfoot, behind you?
• Shout for help and call 000 as early as you can without delaying the isolation.
• Assume everything metallic in the vicinity is live until you know otherwise.

A rescuer who becomes a casualty removes the only person who could have helped.

Rule Two: Establish the Source Voltage Level

This determines everything that follows.

High voltage produces step and touch potentials in the ground around the fault. Approaching a person in contact with an HV conductor — including a fallen overhead line — can kill you before you reach them. The correct actions are: stay back, keep others back, call 000 and the electricity distributor, and wait for confirmed isolation. A downed conductor may re-energise automatically through network auto-reclose.

Low Voltage Rescue Sequence

1. Raise the alarm. Call for help; get someone to phone 000 and to meet the ambulance.
2. Switch off and isolate — this is the first and best action. Operate the main switch, the circuit's protective device, the isolator, or unplug the equipment. Isolation removes the hazard entirely.
3. If isolation is not immediately possible, use an approved insulated rescue implement — a rescue kit hook or an insulated pole rated for the voltage — to push or pull the victim clear of the source, or to move the conductor away from the victim.
4. Stand on dry insulating material where available and keep yourself clear of conductive paths.
5. Separate victim from source, not source from supply, if isolation is unavailable — the objective is to break the contact.
6. Once clear, treat as a casualty: check response, check breathing, commence CPR without delay if not breathing normally (Section 20.5), and apply an AED as soon as one arrives.
7. Do not leave the person alone, and do not let them go home. All electric shock casualties require medical assessment.
8. Preserve the scene and report the incident — electric shock in specified circumstances is a notifiable incident to the regulator.

The Dos and Don'ts

Why an improvised implement is not acceptable: a damp timber batten, a dusty PVC offcut or a broom handle with a metal ferrule are all conductive enough at 230 V to injure the rescuer. Rescue kits exist for exactly this reason and must be located where the work is done, inspected, and within date.

After Any Electric Shock

Even where the person appears unhurt:

• Medical assessment is required. Cardiac arrhythmias can develop hours after a shock, and internal burns can be far worse than the entry and exit marks suggest.
• Do not allow them to drive themselves.
• Report the incident internally and, where it meets the notifiable incident criteria, to the regulator, preserving the site until told otherwise.
• Investigate the cause — the same defect will otherwise catch the next person.
• Check the installation before anyone works on it again.

Preparation Before You Need It

• Know where the rescue kit and first-aid kit are before you start work.
• Know where the isolation point is for the circuit you are working on, and that it is accessible.
• Keep your rescue and resuscitation currency inside 12 months — Queensland requires it for the licence.
• Make sure someone knows where you are and when you are due back, especially in roof spaces and pits.