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A historical quote from early NESC documents

Typical Cases of Resuscitation After Electrical Shock

    1. In May, 1914, a service company employee received a shock from a 2,300-volt wire. He was so badly burned that his left arm was afterwards amputated at the shoulder. One of his companions immediately began to give him manual artificial respiration according to the prone pressure method, while others summoned a physician. The physician reached the scene of the accident within half an hour and immediately pronounced the man dead. The lineman who was working on him refused to give him up and continued the work of resuscitation in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, where two other physicians also pronounced him dead. The lineman insisted that he was not dead and continued his work for another hour and a half, when the man began to show signs of life and was finally fully resuscitated. The injured man is now no worse for the experience, except for the loss of his arm.

     2. In July, I914, an employee of a public utility company received a shock from a 33,000-volt wire, which seriously burned the top of his head and also one heel. A fellow employee who was with him at the time immediately began giving manual artificial respiration according to the prone pressure method. In the meantime, a doctor was summoned and pulmotor sent for, but before the arrival of the doctor and pulmotor the patient had been resuscitated by his fellow employee and removed to the hospital. After a time he entirely recovered from the effects of the shock.

     3. A schoolboy in May, 1915, came in contact with an 11,000-volt wire while up in a tree trying to reach a bird’s nest. He was resuscitated by railroad employees who were near at the time by the prone pressure method of resuscitation and without the aid of a physician. Resuscitation was accomplished in about 45 minutes.

     4. In August, 1915, an employee of a public service company came in contact with live parts at 33,000 volts, while working upon a lightning arrester, and was rendered apparently lifeless. A companion at once began artificial respiration and the man was soon conscious.

     5. A trolley lineman in July, 1916, received a shock from a 500-volt trolley circuit and was thought to be dead. His foreman, however, immediately began efforts for resuscitation by the prone pressure method and was successful in less than a half hour. The next day the lineman was able to resume work.

     6. In November, 1916, a substation operator was working upon a 33,000-volt feeder and received a shock which caused him to fall 15 feet to a concrete floor. The local superintendent immediately applied artificial respiration, regardless of efforts of two doctors to prevent him, and continued it until the man regained consciousness. Another doctor, who had had some experience with similar cases, arrived shortly and assured the superintendent that his action and knowledge of the prone pressure method was undoubtedly responsible for saving the man’s life.

     7. In April, 1915, in Massachusetts, a boy picked up a broken electric wire and was apparently dead from shock, but was revived by artificial respiration.

     8. In June, 1915, in Colorado, a boy took hold of an electric wire and was rendered unconscious and his pulse could not be felt. He was, however, successfully restored by artificial respiration.

     9. In May, 1915, in California, a man was knocked down and rendered unconscious by an electric shock of 2,300 volts. The prompt application of resuscitative methods restored him after he was apparently dead.

National Bureau of Standards Circular No. 72, Scope and Application of the National Electrical Safety Code, 1st Edition, Jun 17, 1918