No matter how many times it proves not to be true, I still find myself fighting the “It will never happen to me “ syndrome! Is this you too? When you hear of something terrible happening to someone, you think “what are the chances?” and “I’m glad it wasn’t me!” I am trying to learn to think with Mr. Murphy in mind! (If I ever meet him in a dark alley at night, that will be the end of that!) Instead of “it won’t happen to me”, I wonder now - “what could go wrong?” This has saved me countless falls and injuries on the job, accidents in the car, etc!
When I was a little kid my grandpa was the only electrical contractor in our small town in North Dakota. There was a family that lived just out of town. One day one of the three small children knocked down a Break-or so...
...glass lamp and broke it with glass all over the floor. Mom sent the kids outside to play so she could clean it up. She was vacuuming and apparently picked up the lamp to move it. Later it was determined that there was a short in the vacuum. If you touch one side of electricity you are ok - until you complete the circuit. When the lamp broke, it made another short so the mother was electrocuted and was unable to let go of either of the appliances. The children found her still holding both the light and the vacuum. It was a big tragedy in a small town!
There are safety devices today that would have protected her. An AFI circuit breaker, required in any new electrical outlet in most areas of your home, would have tripped off and saved her life. Life is incredibly valuable-so is your safety!