With reference to the serious stoppage of the electricity supply on the morning of Wednesday, February 21, some doubt has beea expressed, as to whether adequate safeguards for the protection of human life have been provided. The cause of the shut down was directly due to @ workman coming in contact with 6,600 volt bus bar connectors. A party of five men were instructed to carry out certain work inside a sheet steel duct in the basement of the 6,600 volt Switch House. The particular duct in which these men were to work had been made dead' previously by the Control Engineer in the Power Station, and there was positively no danger in working in this particular section. One of the men, however, for some reason which will never be explained, deliberately entered another section of steel duct which was several feet away from the one where he was supposed to work. In order to enter this other duct, which is 13 ft. from the floor level, he had to procure a ladder, and having entered the sheet steel duct had to crawl some five or six feet before he got into the danger zone.
In ordinary circumstances the only duct to which ingress could have been made would have been the one in which the men were actually working, but it so happened that the particular duct which the unfortunate man entered was not entirely closed because an additional cable box was attached at the entrance of the duct preparatory to being placed in its permanent position a few days later. The Switch House consists of numerous steel ducts encasing live connections, and on the day accident happened there were only two sections open—viz., the one at which the men were actually working and the one in which the accident occurred. It is quite certain that the most definite instructions were given to the men by: the foreign assistant in charge of the operation, and also by the Chinese foreman under whom they were working, and the conclusion was reached that it was either wilful disobedience or temporary loss of memory which actuated the man who entered the stea] duct in which he lost his life.
All the high pressure conductors in the Station are adequately protected to prevent accidental contact. Where this is not always possible the rooms in which the switchgear is housed are kept locked, and are only opened by authorized persons who are working directly under instructions issued by the foreign staff. Although this protection has been found sufficient so far, in view of the recent accident still further protection will be given by the erection of metal barriers constructed in such a way that only by persistent effort could a man get in contact with live conductors, This further protection is not really deemed essential, but bearing in mind the mentality of some of the native workmen, this additional safeguard will, it is hoped, lessen the chances of accidents occurring in future.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.