Electrocution Injury

What Is An Electric Shock Injury?

An electric shock injury is a common phrase used to describe personal injury accidents that have resulted from an individual coming in contact with an electrical current, such as a live wire.

Experiencing an electric current shock can result in a range of injuries. A low-voltage shock may result in a tingling sensation and mild nerve damage. On the other end of the spectrum, a high-voltage electric shock can result in more severe injuries, including paralysis, amputation, and death. When a death occurs, this is known as an electrocution.  

What Is The Difference Between Electric Shock And Electrocution?

An electric shock is the effect felt when an electric current flows through a person’s body. Shocks can result in a range of injuries, including nerve damage, paralysis, and amputation. When an electric shock injury is so severe that it causes death, it is referred to as electrocution. 

How Do Electrical Injuries Happen?

The human body can conduct electricity, and if any part of your body comes in contact with live electricity, the electric current will flow through your body. In doing so, the current will cause damage to the tissue through which the electricity flows. While some people may call this getting electrocuted, the reality is that electrocution only happens when an electric current shock turns fatal. 

Electric shock injuries can happen in a variety of settings but most often occur in construction settings, where workers or individuals are more likely to come in contact with live electricity. If your electric shock injury happened in the workplace, a workers’ compensation attorney can help you navigate filing a personal injury claim. 

Other common reasons why electrical injuries happen include: 

• The unsafe use of electrical equipment
• Installing electrical equipment without the proper electrical protection gear or without following instructions
• Engaging in unsafe work practices

While most electrocutions happen in construction, they can also occur in everyday settings like a home, a shopping center, and even a school building. If there is an electrical appliance or an unsecured live wire that is exposed, anyone, including unsuspecting victims like children, can suffer an electric shock injury. 

Common Types Of Electrical Injuries

Individuals who are at higher risk of getting electrocuted are generally those who are handling electrical appliances, installing electrical equipment, or working with electric currents on a regular basis. 

Electric shock injuries can also lead to:

• Severe burns on hands, feet, chest 
• Paralysis
• Chronic pain
• Cardiac arrest 
• Seizures
• Chronic tingling or nerve damage 

What Is The Treatment For An Electric Injury? 

If you have suffered an electric shock injury, the electrocution injury treatment you’ll receive will depend on the type of injury you have suffered. Depending on the injury, a victim may receive treatment including: 

• Pain medication 
• Intravenous fluids
• Burn treatments, including antibiotic ointment and bandages
• Physical therapy 

Speak With An Electrocution Injury Lawyer

An electrocution injury lawyer can help you recover the compensation you may be entitled to after an electric shock injury. Our attorneys work with employees who suffer electrocution injuries, victims of non-workplace electrocutions, and electrical injuries that happen in public settings because of negligent property owners.