Portable generator risk of injury: One can lose his or her limb!

please open the above photo in a separate window to appreciate the open generator and the risk

We had a lady in her early twenties, went in to switch off a diesel generator which was powering a clinic. Her dress caught accidentally and the arm got in to the motor and she lost her limb from shoulder level!

Shocking and really upsetting even to hear this. When i was the treating surgeon to explain to the relatives that the arm which they had brought with the hope of reimplantation, it was very disturbing.

Then i went to a marriage where the common seating area had the generator running,[ the photo above] i noticed that the people simply were walking past in sarees and chudhidhar and children running about, my heart was bounding with fear

this is the generator where the blades rotating are seen outside and not covered as in modern generators. These open generators are commonly seen in India at all work places where portable generator is used.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/portgen.html

now go to the above web site, limb injury is not in the portable generator hazards.

It however is a never event to lose a limb when not in the line of duty in civilian life. Never Event is a term used in health care setting, but i feel that we should have the same in a domestic setting. refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_events


Please pass on the above incident to all your folks and i have posted the photo of the generator above which is commonly used in India. please advise of this risk to your folks and ask to take care. here the blades are seen rotating outside where as the modern generators have the blades covered or the whole machine covered

We had a lady who was going with the Idol in Srirangam temple around the Praharam in a cart, got her saree caught in the generator which was powering the lights. She too lost her limb and remember this was a mother of a two year old and lost her right upper limb completely. This is entirely preventable. please Campaign for No More Open Generator wherever you see and live

Regards

Chockalingam

Only half of Tamil Nadu Population have access to Toilets! news from Times of India.

If you have followed my blog published in june 2011 , i had highlighted the issue of sanitation or the lack of it in Trichy. I had posted a photo of central Bus Stand in Trichy where animals and men are scrounging for something from the area where things and eatables are dumped.

There is an article from the Times of India today on the issue of the title of this blog.

Fifty percent of us living in India without access to public toilet.

Worrying?

Now go back to the circle of life as depicted in The Lion King a Children's movie. Are we really in the circle of life in India with us thinking that we are the Kings of the civilised life, but in reality the bugs have always been the king of the Real World.

Remember the Bugs and insects have been living in the world long before the human being and hence will outlive us. But that does not mean that we have to facilitate our demise by providing a poor sanitation where we live.

If you really want to fight for it, please campaign for public toilets which are free for the public to use who do not have access to one in rural areas to prevent contamination of sewage with our daily consumption meaning food.

This way we can certainly stop some communicable diseases, but that does not mean that we are going to outlive the bugs!

Warm Regards

Chockalingam