WASHINGTON — A device intended to control the flow of electricity to lights on a handrail at MGM National Harbor was not properly installed, leading to the June 26 incident in which a 6-year-old girl suffered critical injuries from an electrical shock, a preliminary assessment into the investigation shows.
The LED driver, a device designed to limit voltage, should have only allowed 10 volts to flow through the handrail lighting, but instead sent 120 volts of electricity through the girl’s body, according to the report obtained by The Washington Post.
The faulty installation was just one of a number of violations that, according to investigators, should have never made it past the inspection process.
The report also found other major code violations, including the “wrong type of electrical wiring used to power the lights.”
Other issues include handrail being loose because it wasn’t buried at the proper depth.
The county’s department of permitting inspection and enforcement has since launched a forensic investigation and says so far their findings are in line with those in the preliminary assessment.
The 6-year-old girl remains hospitalized.
