CHILDREN AND ELECTRICITY: THE DANGERS WE SOMETIMES DO NOT SEE

This week, a two-year-old girl has died electrocuted in India by sucking the charger of a mobile phone connected to the power. As reported by The Times of India, the mother took the phone but left the charger and the little girl took the end of the cable that connects the mobile to the mouth. And it is not the first case of electrocution by a telephone cable, although we should act to be the last.

An avoidable accident without a doubt and that reminds you that Electricity is very dangerous for children, although sometimes we don't see the dangers. We give you some ideas to avoid accidents, since babies do not stop researching and exploring.

Electrocution Risks

The report 'Major accidents by ages', of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP), which "From a young age we tend to investigate, to want to know what happens around us and to experience what happens when certain established routines and habits are altered. The human being also tends from small to make decisions and initiatives, to achieve goals and to want to assert their points of view".

After six months, they explain in the report, children are starting to put everything in their mouths, so you have to do a general overhaul of the house and protect the corners, dangerous furniture, the stairs, the plugs. A precaution that must also be taken when visiting the homes of family and friends.

Add the AEP:

"You have to be very careful with electric burns. The injuries that occur as a result of an electric shock are very serious, produce very deep burns that affect internal structures such as tendons and muscles, so they can cause serious functional disabilities."

In Babies and more A baby suffers terrible burns to the lips when the cable of a mobile charger plugged into the mouth is put in the mouth

In addition, they carry the risk of electrocution. The author of the report, the pediatrician María Teresa Benítez, explains that if the discharge is very intense and passes through the body, it is capable of producing a cardiac arrest and even death: "Houses usually have a device that makes the 'jump the current' but sometimes the child can act as a conductor of electricity."

Prevention, the best measure

The AEP justifies in its 'Guide for Parents on the prevention of unintentional injuries in children', that the WHO proposes to replace the word accident with that of unintentional injury, since "It is an inevitable fact and which can be influenced". However, the word accident leads to think of a fact that is due to chance and on which it is not possible to act. And they say that it is not like that: prevention helps.

And it is that perhaps the first measure to prevent our children from getting involved in home accidents is precisely to inform them of the dangers of electricity. But until they have the ability to understand and assimilate what happens when it is misused, it is our responsibility to put all precautionary measures within our reach.

According to the 'Manual of accident prevention of the home' of the consumer organization Facua, and the AEP, these are the recommendations to avoid a dreaded electrocution of children in the home, something relatively simple:

Cover the plugs with protectors to prevent children from putting their fingers and other objects in them. To protect them, you don't have to come up with homemade security devices, because they can be dangerous and not fulfill their function well. Better to buy them in childcare stores and make sure they are approved.

Ensures the AEP, that "the implantation of this type of device in the domiciles of the United States reduced up to 60% the domestic accidents by electric shock".

Place the plugs at a height out of reach of children, since they start crawling or moving on their own.
Under no circumstances, the cables must be carried on the ground and less below the carpets.
Periodically check the condition of the plugs and fix them if they are defective (outside the wall, broken or stained) or replace them with new ones. The same with the extensions.
Repair electrical appliances With wires in poor condition.
Unplug small appliances, such as clothes and hair irons or dryers, when not in use, to prevent children from pulling the cables.

In Babies and more An adolescent dies electrocuted while bathing by using his mobile phone connected to the current

Never leave them near water or from an environment where water vapor is concentrated (such as the bathroom).
Do not plug in devices that have become wet until you are totally sure that they are dry.
Take care of that the child does not touch any electrical device when walking barefoot With wet feet.
Do not connect electrical appliances near the bathtub (even less with children inside). They could fall into the water and cause electrocution. It is best to have the plugs as far away as possible from it to avoid temptation (more than a meter from the edge).
Avoid triple or multiple connections, because they are more prone to suffer electrical problems and attract more attention of the little ones, with so many cables connected.
Never leave electronic device cables unsupervised connected at the height of children, and even less without having charging any device (computer, tablet, phone, electric razor, epilator ...). Better on a piece of furniture or a countertop that they can't reach.
Do not bend the charger cables too hard when stored as the protective case can break and cause a short circuit when plugged back in.
Try not to manipulate plugs or cables in front of the child, whose imitation can be dangerous.

What to do in case of electric shock?

Electric accidents generally stay in a fright. But in the most serious cases, the child may lose consciousness and suffer a shock, because according to the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, the passage of electric current through the body can damage internal tissues more than the skin and cause cardiac arrest , the destruction of the muscles, nerves and tissues crossed by the current, and burns by the thermal effect of the electrical source.

The severity of injuries caused by electricity depends on the resistance of the skin and mucous membranes, the type of electrical current (high or low voltage) and the duration of contact.

The most common are low voltage, caused at home by contact with plugs, bare wires, appliances in poor condition ..., and usually affect the hands and mouth.

So the usual thing is that the child can separate itself from the metallic object that caused the discharge. He will be aware, although very scared and crying.

If not, the AEP explains that The first thing parents should do is turn off the electricity by turning off the circuit breakers (sometimes unplugging the device is not enough). Then, we have to separate the child if it remains attached to the current, with an insulating object, such as a wooden or plastic stick, never with its own hands. Getting on top of several folded newspapers is useful to isolate the person who helps the child.

Next, you have to call the emergency number, 112, and act according to their instructions.

In addition, if the electric shock is prolonged, the heat of the current can cause a burn. In this case, the advice of the AEP are:

If the area through which the current has passed is only flushed, it will be sufficient to put it under cold water.
If the skin is dark, but attached to the dermis, or a blister has formed, a sterile gauze soaked in cold water must be placed on top. After about ten minutes, you can remove the gauze and apply anti-burn cream. Then, the wound is covered with a sterile gauze, fixed with adhesive tape.
Never apply ice, butter, toothpaste, or other home remedies to the burn. Do not break the blisters, or remove dead skin.
If the burn is large and deep and the child is conscious but pale, has cold sweat, nausea and muscle weakness, he may have suffered a slight shock. In these cases, you have to take him to the emergency room.

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