Man is electrocuted in factory

Eric Baxter • Published 23 Jun 2010 14:00

A MAN was severely burned after he was electrocuted with 11,000 volts in a major blast.

The victim suffered serious burns to his arms and face and was rushed to hospital after coming into contact with the extremely high-powered generator.

The terrifying incident at the former AMP electronics building in the Dubbs Road industrial estate, Port Glasgow, left, happened at 2am this morning.

The 46-year-old was lucky to be alive as the 11,000-volt generator contains enough power to run almost 50 homes.

The injured man was taken to Inverclyde Royal Hospital and transferred to the specialist burns unit at Glasgow Royal, where he is undergoing intensive treatment for his injuries.

Strathclyde Fire and Rescue community safety officer Kevin Hughes said today: "This man is very lucky to be alive and live to tell the tale after coming into contact with such a major power supply. This is an extreme amount of power."

He said the normal power supply to a house would be about 240 volts, overhead cables on railway lines are 600 and a street light would be between 110 and 240.

It is not yet clear why the man was inside the building.

Scottish Power said the padlock on the factory's electrical sub-station had been prised open and the cover removed from an 11,000-volt unit. They were notified at 3am and isolated the supply, which caused a short power dip in the area.

A Scottish Power spokesman said: "We were called out by emergency services at 3am. Supply to the building was isolated. The matter is currently subject to a police investigation. Power was lost to 400 householders just for a minute."

There was a small fire in the factory five hours before this happened. Port Glasgow firefighters were called out to extinguish it.

A spokesman at the station said: "This building is a large complex structure. We believe children started the fire at 9pm last night and we want to warn them and their parents that it is dangerous to go into this building and they should stay away."

Tweet

This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 23 Jun 10

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.

Follow @greenocktele