A Swampscott dog was shocked after stepping on a National Grid handhole. (Christine Tierney)
SWAMPSCOTT — National Grid teams examined handholes throughout town this weekend after a regional lady’s dog suffered an electrical shock when it stepped over a metal plate covering an electrical-utility compartment on Lincoln Circle.
Christine Tierney said she was out for her typical walk on Lincoln Circle with her dog Oscar early Thursday early morning when her 100-pound Labrador discharge a yelp.
“He yelped really, really loudly, I’d never heard him do that,” Tierney said. “He stepped on a metal plate with a big E on it and screamed and stumbled into the street. He was shaking.”
At initially, Tierney said she believed her canine buddy may have stepped on a bee or a nail. When Oscar was acting dazed and consistently shaking his head, she understood it was an electrical shock.
Tierney called National Grid to report the amazed panel, and a professional showed up later on in the day to check the energy pole and its surrounding panel. She said the National Grid professional informed her Oscar was lucky to be alive.
“The technician who went out and put the voltage meter to the ground said that it was up to 90 volts of electricity that was running in a radius of three feet around the plate, and 50 (volts) is enough to kill a human,” Tierney said.
In an email to The ItemNational Grid representative Christine Milligan said that the Lincoln Circle handhole was changed on Friday.
“Safety is our number-one priority and National Grid crews also inspected other handholes in the area on Friday,” Milligan said.
When asked how often safety issues such as electrically-exposed handholes take place, Milligan reacted: “We’re not commenting beyond the statement.”
Tierney said Oscar returned from an emergency situation check out to Atlantic Veterinary Hospital in Marblehead with a tidy costs of health. Still, she said moms and dads and animal owners need to take care when out walking near electrical equipment.
“They were replacing it with a plastic nonconductive liner, so I said to someone working there, ‘Is this a fluke? Is this something that you see, or are we just super unlucky?’ He said, ‘You’d be surprised how often this actually happens,’” Tierney said.
In the days following Oscar’s shock, Tierney said she received a call from Eight Essex District Rep. Jenny Armini, who informed her that she would speak to National Grid leaders to guarantee safety threats such as this are on their radar.
“Oscar is a 100-pound yellow Lab, he’s pretty sturdy,” Tierney said. “He’s pretty fortunate, but the National Grid man said that it could have been a really, really, really bad outcome had it been a kid, or a person not wearing shoes, or a small dog or cat.”
