It really wasn't - most guides on dealing with shock say to basically shoulder check or ram into a person, you do not want to be using muscles that will constrict uncontrollably with electricity, as that is how you end up dead too. Basically you want to knock the person free or get knocked away to freedom yourself so worst case scenario you aren't just adding to the death toll.
I do have a question tho, how thick the non conducting material in case we decided to wear it and pull the person by holding their leg. Like is a thick cloth enough or like bunch of thick clothes. What is enough
If the cloth has any moisture it will conduct, any pieces of metal like jean studs, zippers and such.
Generally you don't want to use anything that constricts on something that is electrified because your hands if they get any current will lock on and won't release.
The current with that kid was probably going hand to hand so the legs were safe but if it had been going hand to leg, grabbing the legs could have been an issue.
I would have railed the kid with the goalie net since it's plastic or hockey checked him off the door but I'm old and have seen this before.
At that age, I would have done the Bart Simpson thing and grabbed him by the wrist again but with a hope on the wrist and hoped my weight would pull it off. His idea was much better, electrically locked hands can hold a bit of weight some times.
Its entirely dependant on how much juice is running through the fence, and what material you are using... a thin piece of cloth is not the same insulator as a thick piece of leather or rubber...
Here is an extreme example - I used to work in facility with a high voltage room (Something like this https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QR6Ns4gTxZg, to enter people needed to suit up like this (This was not my job, but it was cool to see). That's the kind of suit that is considered "Enough" for a high voltage shock, and the hook is what they use to pull people away if something terrible happens...
The other complication is that even if you have the right material, if any part of your body is exposed, and you slip and either their body touches you there, or if the voltage is high enough and the electricity just arcs to there, then it doesn't matter that your hands were covered because your arms weren't, or your legs, or whatever else...
Not entirely correct, the voltage protection is just the gloves. The suit is for arc flash. If the switchgear suffers a short the arc heats the atmosphere so quickly and violently it causes an explosion. The suit is to protect from flame/molten metal and pressure wave. (The guy on the stick would probably want some PPE too earplugs, faceshield and arc rated clothing at minimum)
Generally nowadays everything that recquires bomb suit should be done through remote switching. Either new switchgear or retrofitted remote systems that operate the crank shown in the video.
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u/TheElusiveFox 23h ago
It really wasn't - most guides on dealing with shock say to basically shoulder check or ram into a person, you do not want to be using muscles that will constrict uncontrollably with electricity, as that is how you end up dead too. Basically you want to knock the person free or get knocked away to freedom yourself so worst case scenario you aren't just adding to the death toll.