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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter September 24, 2013

Death Modes from a Loss of Energy Infrastructure Continuity in a Community Setting

  • Athol Yates EMAIL logo

Abstract

When power fails, deaths and injuries do occur. The numbers are usually very small unless the loss of critical infrastructure service continuity occurs simultaneously with some other hazardous event such as a heatwave. This paper uses a systematic review of literature to identify how people die from a loss of electricity or gas in a community setting. Nineteen plausible causal trains of events, known as energy service continuity death modes, are identified where an energy loss is the harm mechanism closest to the underlying cause of death. A number of these death modes are well recognised, but others are rarely noted. These death modes are those that arise in a domestic environment, rather than those that arise from a loss of energy continuity to industrial, medical and other facilities as these have unique death modes. The consolidated, evidence-backed list of plausible energy service continuity death modes presented in this paper will be valuable to emergency response organisations tasked with protecting public safety during energy loss incidents. By examining the list, these organisations can take a more comprehensive and anticipatory approach to preventing deaths.


Corresponding author: Athol Yates, Institute of Civil and International Security, Khalifa University, PO Box 127788, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Tel.: +971 2401 8329, Fax: +971 2401 8005, e-mail:

  1. 1

    Examples of traffic fatalities during blackouts occurred following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan. TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) introduced planned blackouts as a way of managing demand for the reduced electricity supply after the disaster. A fatal case during the TEPCO planned blackouts at non-functioning traffic lights occurred on March 16 at about 10:30 in the morning. A motorbike ridden by a 69-year-old man collided with a small car driven by a 65-year-old man at a crossing in the Annaka city, Gumma prefecture, 120 km north of Tokyo. The bike rider died a couple of hours later (Yomiuri Online 2011).

  2. 2

    An example of a robbery death where an energy loss was a contributing factor is the case of a 17-year-old who fell to his death from a roof after trying to rob a Brooklyn shoe store during the August 2003 north-east American blackout. New York Times, 16 August 2003 Lights Go On After Biggest Blackout, But Not Without 2nd Day Of Suffering.

  3. 3

    Medical record privacy issues were not confronted as only de-identified medical data was provided by coronial authorities.

  4. 4

    Medical and life insurance claims were not analysed due to their lack of database availability.

  5. 5

    The US Consumer Product Safety Commission required a pictography warning on all generators produced or imported after May 2007.

  6. 6

    Storm Data is a publication set that detail hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, hail, floods, drought conditions, lightning, high winds, snow, temperature extremes and other weather phenomena in the US and includes statistics on personal injuries and damage estimates.

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Published Online: 2013-09-24
Published in Print: 2013-10-01

©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston

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