There are many potential dangers from electricity in the average household. From lighting fixtures to broken appliances, wall outlets to power cords, electrical boxes to hidden wires, your house surges with electricity. That’s why it’s important to have an enormous amount of caution when dealing with anything electrical. If you make a mistake, it can cause serious injury or death. Children can die from voltages that are less than 500, while adults are slightly higher than that range. But no matter what the household amperage, avoiding the consequences of playing with electricity is imperative.
Most accidents occur when someone makes contact with faulty appliances or touches frayed or damaged wiring; are caught by electric arcs from high-voltage lines; are injured by machinery; or, in the case of curious children, are hurt by biting or chewing live electric wires or fiddling with wall outlets, usually inserting a metal object into them.
The body is made up of a large amount of water, so it's a great conductor of electricity, making direct contact with any source of electricity potentially deadly. Even minor burns, which can appear harmless, may not tell the whole story because internal injuries often occur from exposure to electricity. The injury's severity is determined by a number of factors, including the type of voltage (AC or DC), its strength, how it moves through the body and the victim's health.
Electric current injures the body in one of three ways: Cardiac arrest from the shock to the system; destroying critical nerves, muscles and tissues from a jolt of electricity; or sustaining severe thermal burns from a power sources. This can result in being knocked unconscious, suffering a heart attack, sustaining a broken bone, getting a severe headache, heart arrhythmia, blurry vision, lost hearing or swallowing problems. Victims may experience muscle spasms, severe pain, breathing problems, lung failure, general numbness or tingling, and in extreme cases, seizures.