Danger lurks in everyday appliances
AAP Updated July 25, 2013, 3:50 pm
A Sydney woman has been taken to hospital after receiving an electric shock while using her mobile phone.
The Chatswood woman was not seriously injured, and it is not known whether the phone was plugged into a charger when she was shocked.
The incident coincided with a warning over other innocuous devices that are landing people in hospital, including dishwashers, hair straighteners and food processors.
The NSW ambulance service says in the first half of this year paramedics responded to 232 triple-zero calls for electric shocks, eight calls for hair straightener burns and six for traumatic injury and finger amputations caused by blenders.
Three people suffered electric shocks from mobile phones or mobile phone chargers.
Toasters, computer keyboards, vacuum cleaners, irons, exploding batteries and cans of hair spray also caused injury.
NSW Ambulance Inspector John Brotherhood said the most common household appliances often caused the worst injuries.
"In March, a 67-year-old woman at Narooma suffered a shock from her dishwasher after a mouse chewed through the cord," he said.
"Many others have suffered shocks while changing light bulbs and using power points and light switches."
Many of the shocks were caused by people touching power connections with wet hands or by a build-up of dust on appliances and power points.
He said the spate of injuries had prompted the ambulance service to remind people to take care when using everyday household appliances and check for faulty connections.
