Open AccessWork-related electrical fatalities in Australia, 1982-1984.
Author(s) -
Philippa HarveySutton,
Timothy Driscoll,
Michael Frommer,
James Edward Harrison
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of work, environment and health
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.621
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1795-990X
pISSN - 0355-3140
DOI - 10.5271/sjweh.1574
Subject(s) - overhead (engineering) , work (physics) , incidence (geometry) , electricity , electrical injuries , occupational safety and health , residual , electrical current , demography , forensic engineering , environmental health , poison control , geography , injury prevention , medicine , engineering , computer science , mathematics , electrical engineering , sociology , mechanical engineering , geometry , pathology , algorithm
Work-related electrical fatalities were studied as part of a larger investigation into all work-related fatalities in Australia in the period 1982-1984. The 95 electrical fatalities (all men) represented an incidence of 0.49 per 100,000 persons (0.79/100,000 men) in the employed civilian labor force during the study period. Electricity was the fifth highest cause of work-related fatalities in Australia and resulted in 10% of all workplace deaths. Ninety-four percent of the workers were performing their usual tasks at the time of their death, and 38% of them were doing work of an electrical nature at the time. The greatest number of deaths occurred on farms and nonconstruction industrial sites, with overhead powerlines as the main source of current. Better placement of overhead powerlines, improved worker awareness of electrical hazards, and the use of residual current devices would probably have prevented most of the deaths.