02_what lies beneath

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http://ecmweb.com/shock-electrocution/what-lies-beneath

What Lies BeneathWhat lies beneath the surface at more marinas and docks than electrical inspectors can citeor industry experts want to admit is the potential for stray voltage flowing through water thatstems from improper electrical installations — a silent killer that only waits to add the namesof more victims to its list of casualties. This article examines the wiring and equipmentrequirements in marinas and boatyards currently outlined in the NE as well as discussesnew laws! including the Noah "ean and Nate #ct! that have been passed in the last year byWest $irginia and Tennessee to try and minimi%e electric shock drownings. &ltimately! itexplores how we! as a professional industry! can help eliminate electric shock drowning andelectrocution tragedies and better protect the public.

What Lies Beneath Aug 18, 2014 Matthew Halverson | Electrical Construction and Maintenance

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COMMENTS 1What is in this article?:

• What Lies Beneath

• SIDEBAR 1: Research Project Seeks Out Mitigation Strategies

• SIDEBAR 2: To ic S arks On!ine O inion an" Interaction

• SIDEBAR #: Lessons Learne" $ro% &orensic 'ase(ook

• SIDEBAR ): In the *e+s

E!ectric shock "ro+ning is an unseen "anger in %arinas an" (oat,ar"s- (ut ne+ !egis!ation is(eginning to turn the ti"e.

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"The list on my site isn’t current,” David Rifkin says, “but I can send you an updated version.” e’s referrin! to a icrosoft #ord document titled “$lectric %hockDro&nin! Incident 'ist,” and as its name su!!ests, it’s a somber affair.

May 20, 2013 – Grayson County, Ky. … A 36-year-old man … jumped into t e!ater ! en " is# do$ !as a%in$ pro&lems. 'itnesses report t e man(s eyes rolled&a)*, and e !ent under t e !ater suddenly.

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+uly , 2012 – a*e o t e / ar*s, Mo. … A 13-year-old $irl and er -year-old&rot er !ere *illed &y ele)tri)ity ! ile s!immin$ near a pri%ate do)*. / i)ialssaid t e do)* !as not prote)ted &y a G C as re4uired.

The document continues on like this for () pa!es, documentin! more than a hundredcases of adults and children &ho’ve died * or +ust barely escaped death * due tostray current that leaked into the &ater &here they &ere s&immin!. Rifkin, a retired

.%. -avy captain, o&ns uality arine %ervices, a /acksonville, 0la., consultin!company that speciali1es in corrosion analysis at marinas. e’s been scannin!ne&spapers and runnin! 2oo!le searches for years no&, amassin! this collection ofstories to build a case for the dan!ers of &hat he calls “electric shock dro&nin!” or$%D. 'ike the name su!!ests, $%D is a death in the &ater caused by electric shock.3ut it doesn’t have to be the result of electrocution4 even small amounts of current

radiatin! from the metal hull of a boat &ith faulty &irin! can be enou!h to cause aperson’s body to sei1e and prevent them from s&immin! to safety.

Even small amounts of current radiating from the metal hull of a boat with faulty wiring can be enough tocause a person’s body to seize and prevent them from swimming to safety (BobBremner i!toc" #hin"stoc"$%


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5f all the stories on Rifkin’s list, there’s one that hit him especially hard. “'ike all ofthe others, it didn’t have to happen,” he says. “It shouldn’t have happened.” 3ut itdid, and he and a handful of others are &orkin! to make sure that somethin! !oodcan come of it.

Silent killer

6t first, &hen the boys started screamin!, their families thou!ht they’d been stun! by bees or bitten by snakes. It &as 7879 in the afternoon on /uly ), 79(7 * it seems somany of these incidents occur on a /uly ) holiday, as summer boatin! season really!ets under&ay * and (9:year:old -oah Dean #instead and his ((:year:old friend,-ate 'ynam, &ere s&immin! bet&een t&o boats at the 2erman ;reek arina in2rain!er ;ounty, Tenn.

RELATEDTennessee arinas #ill ave -e& %afety Re


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3ut for -oah #instead’s mother, /essica, that &asn’t enou!h.

#he biggest variable in any marina is the human element% !ystem modifications& improper use of e'istinge uipment ) even something as simple as failure to use marine*rated e'tension cords ) prove that nomatter how conscientious a contractor is when installing an electrical system near water& accidents mayhappen (+lad ,od"hlebni" Hemera #hin"stoc"$%

Ongoing dilemma

The rules that cover the installation of &irin! and e


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associated &ith residential condominiums, multiple:dockin! facilities at multiple:family residences, and all associated piers, docks, and floats. This standard is notintended to apply to a private, non:commercial dockin! facility constructed oroccupied for the use of the o&ners or residents of the associated sin!le:family

d&ellin!.”

6nd yet, despite the obvious threat presented by the combination of electricity and &ater, it’s not uncommon to find le!acy systems at older marinas &ith little to no!round fault protection. “;ommercial docks around here are a mess because they’ve

been there forever,” says Dave Russell, of /et ;ity $lectric, near %eattle. Russell doesthe bulk of his &ork on residential docks around 'ake #ashin!ton, stickin! mainlyto residential installations because the lar!er marinas can be so !narly. “#e’ve

&alked into places to check on them, and it’s pretty scary stuff.”

3ruce 'a'onde, of 'a'onde $lectric in $stacada, 5re., overhauled a 79:year:oldelectrical system at a marina on the ;olumbia River in summer 79(C, and althou!hthe e=istin! system &as still in &orkin! order, it &as only a matter of time before itfailed. “There &as no 20;I protection at all,” 'a'onde says. “6nd they’d used allhard conduit, &hereas the ne& methods call for fle=ible, marine:rated &ire.” Thepro+ect ended up lastin! the entire summer.

If the fre


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#instead to settle for hopin! that marina o&ners &ould do the ri!ht thin!. Inspired by #est ir!inia’s ichael ;unnin!ham 6ct of 79(C, &hich more or less took the-$;’s rules re!ardin! marinas and made them la&, #instead be!an lobbyin! theTennessee state le!islature for somethin! similar * it &as about that time that she

met Rifkin.

6lon! &ith runnin! uality arine %ervices, Rifkin also partners &ith Fevin Rit1 onthe $lectric %hock Dro&nin! Brevention 6ssociation, a ?9(@cA@CA they launched to

brin! a&areness to the dan!ers of faulty &irin! at docks and marinas. Rit1 has become a nationally reco!ni1ed e=pert on the sub+ect, havin! spent the last (? years* since his G:year:old son died in an 5re!on river * preachin! the need for morestrin!ent electrical safety practices on the &ater.

3y 79(C, Rifkin had read about -oah Dean and -ate and about /essica #instead’s &ork in the le!islature. er efforts to prevent future deaths on the &ater &ere ri!htin line &ith the nonprofit’s !oals, so he reached out to her and offered help in findin!

+ust the ri!ht verbia!e for the bill. “The first drafts &ere very, very strict,” Rifkin says.“%o it &as a matter of craftin! the lan!ua!e in such a &ay that you &ould makemarinas safer but not blud!eon the industry into submission to the point that theycouldn’t afford to operate.”

In the end, the bill cribbed directly from the -$;’s re #ell, that’s a H?9,999 fine and as much as a yearin +ail.

5nce they had the &ordin! do&n, it didn’t take lon! for the bill to move throu!h thele!islature. #ith sponsorship from %tate Representatives Tilman 2oins and %teve%outherland, the -oah Dean and -ate 6ct passed the state senate &ithout a sin!le

vote in opposition on arch ( , 79(). 6 month later, it passed the state house ofrepresentatives, J?:9. 2overnor 3ill aslam si!ned it into la& on ay (K, and it is setto take effect 6pril (, 79(?.


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6nd yet, there are those &ho feel that additional protective measures should be putin place to protect s&immers. Ru!!ieri, the former electrical en!ineerin! chief of the

.%. ;oast 2uard, doesn’t believe that 20;Is alone can provide (99L certainty inpreventin! in:&ater shocks * citin! multiple cases of electric shock dro&nin!

involvin! 20;I:protected branch circuits. “20;Is are better than nothin!, but they’renot desi!ned to address shocks in submer!ed applications,” he says. “The reason

bein! is that the cross:thoracic current re


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JJ.JL of traffic accident deaths. 3ut is that to say that lo&erin! it from 9 mph to K9mph &ill have 1ero effect>”

Poised for change

6lthou!h this la&’s scope is obviously limited to +ust one state, the tide appears to beturnin!. There is, of course, #est ir!inia’s ichael ;unnin!ham 6ct, &hich passedin 79(C, and efforts are under&ay in the Fentucky le!islature to pass a similar bill,kno&n as the %amantha ;hipley 6ct. That means countless marinas &ill soon fallunder the ne& re!ulations.

“If I &as a contractor, I’d be sendin! all of the marinas a copy of this le!islation,”Rifkin says. “Then +ust spell it out8 These are the specific electrical re


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That’s &hy there’s one other re


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SIDEBAR 1: Research Project Seeks Out Mitigation Strategies

In mid:December 79(C, The 0ire Brotection Research 0oundation announced a

pro+ect to “identify and summari1e available information that clarifies the problem of ha1ardous volta!eNcurrent in marinas, boatyards, and floatin! buildin!s, and todevelop a miti!ation strate!y to address identified ha1ards.” The pro+ect has been

broken do&n into five key tasks.

Task (8 Revie& of 'iterature and Data ;ollection

Task 78 Identification of 6vailable Technolo!y

Task C8 Technolo!y 6ssessment

Task )8 Recommended 6pproach

Task ?8 0inal Report


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SIDEBAR 2: Topic Sparks Online Opinion an Interaction

#hat lies beneath the surface at more marinas and docks than inspectors can cite or

industry e=perts &ant to admit is the potential for stray volta!e flo&in! throu!h &ater that stems from improper electrical installations * a silent killer that only &aits to add the names of more victims to its list of casualties. %o &hat can &e do as aprofessional community to help eliminate electric shock dro&nin! and electrocutiontra!edies and better protect the public> That &as a


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SIDEBAR !: "essons "earne #ro$ %orensic&ase'ook

Takin! an in:depth look at specific electrical accidents from a forensic en!ineerin!perspective, “0orensic ;asebook” has been an over&helmin! favorite

&ith :C;M readers for more than a decade. 3y sho&in! the conse


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#hat started out as a beautiful day at the lake


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SIDEBAR (: In the )e*s

:C;M has reported on several stories recently that relate to the ha1ards electricity

presents in marina and dock applications. Read the ne&s reports at ecm&eb.com.

'ake ;ommunity 0ocuses on Dock Inspections

6 villa!e on the 'ake of the 51arks in issouri has focused more attention onelectrical inspections of docks recently. The illa!e of the 0our %easons, &hich has apopulation of about 7,799 but dra&s a si!nificant number of tourists to the lake each

year, recently took matters into its o&n hands to improve safety. The villa!e’s 3oardof Trustees met in arch and amended the re


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recent &ork, that breaker had been turned back on, and the o&ner estimates it had been on * electrifyin! the &ater * for a month.

6merican 3oat O Eacht ;ouncil %teps p $lectric %hock Dro&nin! Brevention

$fforts

The 6merican 3oat O Eacht ;ouncil’s 0oundation @63E;A is partnerin! &ith the$ner!y $ducation ;ouncil’s %afe $lectricity “Teach 'earn ;are T';” campai!n tohelp prevent electric shock dro&nin! @$%DA. The safety messa!es include propermaintenance of a boat’s electrical system and safe actions in the &ater. Thanks to a!rant recently a&arded by the -ational 0ire Brotection 6ssociation’s 0ire BrotectionResearch 0oundation and support from the 63E; 0oundation, an e=pertinvesti!ation for solutions on the dockside miti!ation of this ha1ard is under&ay.
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