On a recent Friday morning, a little after 8:45 a.m., a Shiloh police officer saved a construction worker from a puddle filled with electrified water. Then, another officer employed CPR to bring the injured man back to life. The incident happened right behind the police department, and two workers required hospital care as a result. However, thanks to the quick thinking of Shiloh police officers, no one was killed.
When police first arrived on scene at the construction site where the accident happened, they found a worker unconscious without a heartbeat in electrified water. The man had been cutting concrete with a saw, and when another worker attempted to pull him free from the water, he also got shocked. Fortunately, the second worker who tried to save the man was not badly injured.
Next, two Shiloh police officers pulled the worker out of the water with a canvas tie strap. After using CPR and a defibrillator on the man, police were able to stabilize him. By the time an ambulance arrived, the formally unconscious man was breathing on his own. If not for the swift reaction of the officers who arrived on scene, it is likely that the man in the puddle would not have survived. At this time, The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating what may have happened in the incident.
The threat of suffering an electrocution injury at an Illinois construction site is always a possibility. Therefore, construction worksites need to be very careful to make sure electrocution dangers are minimized. Fortunately, in the event that such an injury does occur, workers’ compensation benefits will be available to the injured workers in order to pay for the medical care they require.
Source: Bellview News-Democrat, “First, a shock almost killed worker, another might have saved his life,” Kaitlyn Schwers, Oct. 07, 2016
