If someone is being shocked, don’t grab them
The rescue instinct creates a second victim. Cut the power. If you can’t, push them clear with something dry that doesn’t conduct — never your hands.
This page is for one terrible minute — someone you can see is being shocked and can’t let go. Someone in our community carried this knowledge urgently, and they were right that it saves lives; the steps below are their message’s verified core, checked word for word against standard first-aid guidance from the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic.
The one rule above all: never touch them with your hands
A person in contact with live current is part of the circuit, and the current will take you the moment you take their arm. The second victim is the classic electrocution tragedy — the rescuer, killed by the grab their instincts demanded. Everything below exists to give that instinct a better job.
The steps, in order
- Cut the power. Unplug the appliance, or hit the breaker — in a home this is seconds away, which is why knowing your panel now is the real preparation. Power off ends the emergency instantly.
- Can’t cut it? Separate them with something dry that doesn’t conduct. A wooden broom handle, a plastic chair, a rolled towel or rubber mat — push them clear or push the source away. Dry matters. Never anything metal, never anything wet.
- Call 911 — before, during, whenever a second person exists to do it; otherwise the moment they’re clear.
- Check them. Unresponsive and not breathing means CPR now. Breathing means keep them still and warm — and the ambulance still comes, because electrical injury does its damage on the inside and “I feel fine” is not a medical opinion.
The line this page will not cross
High voltage is different, absolutely and always. A downed power line, a substation, anything utility-scale: there is no broom handle, no rescue, no version of approaching that ends well. Stay back at least twenty feet — farther if lines are jumping or sparking — keep everyone else back, and let the professionals kill the power. The bravest thing anyone can do near high voltage is hold the perimeter.
Why we teach the broom and not the kick
The message that prompted this page urged kicking the person free — and we owe its sender honesty rather than silence. A kick has surely worked somewhere; no first-aid authority teaches it, because its outcome depends on your soles, the floor’s wetness, and the voltage — three coin-flips you can’t read mid-emergency, with your life on the table. The dry non-conductive push does the same job with a real margin. Keep the urgency the message carried. Trade its method for the one the professionals stake lives on.
Common questions
Why can’t I just pull them off? Every second counts.
Because the current doesn’t know you’re the rescuer. A person frozen to a live source is part of the circuit, and bare-handed contact adds you to it — the classic electrocution tragedy is the second victim, dead beside the first. The protocol above is not slower than grabbing; the breaker or a broom handle is seconds away, and it works without costing another life.
Someone once told me to kick them free. Is that real?
It’s real folklore — the person whose urgent message prompted this page said exactly that, and it has surely worked for someone, somewhere. Here’s why no first-aid authority teaches it: whether a kick saves them or adds you to the circuit depends on your footwear, the wetness of the floor, and the voltage — three things you cannot assess in that moment. A dry wooden broom, a plastic chair, a rolled rubber mat achieves the same separation with a margin your boot doesn’t have. If your legs are all you have, that is a desperate last resort in a situation already outside every rulebook — but it is not the move to plan on. Plan on the breaker and the broom.
What do I do once they’re clear?
Call 911 immediately if you haven’t already — say it’s an electrical injury. If they’re unresponsive, check breathing and start CPR if needed. If they’re breathing, keep them still and warm until help arrives, and don’t let “I feel okay” cancel the ambulance: electrical injuries damage from the inside, and the standard guidance is medical evaluation after any real shock.
Often carried together
Things people often carry alongside this one.
A natural next step
Full tip: https://findangel.org/tips/if-someone-is-being-shocked · FindAngel.org — free, always.