List of incidents involving harm or death to graffiti writers and street-artists during the creation of street art and graffiti.
There were six people who died creating graffiti on train carriages in New South Wales by 1988. Nine people were seriously injured or died creating graffiti on railway property in New South Wales in the 18 months prior to December 2001.
In July 1988 in the London Underground there were people who had received "... electric shocks and burns crossing the 600-volt rails to tag a wall." In June 2008 in Los Angeles there had been "...taggers getting injured once every couple of months from falls or being 'clipped by a car'.".
When people have taken photos of newly created graffiti there have been accidents where deaths have occurred. In the United States in 1993 a 23-year-old person was on train tracks with a group of people and it is thought that they had spray painted graffiti on the side of a freight carriage. The 23-year-old was taking photos of the graffiti when the sound of an approaching train was heard. The 23-year-old began to move across the train tracks and a collision occurred with the train and they died.
In Russia in 2020 a 22-year-old had created graffiti at a train station and they climbed up onto a train carriage to take a photo of the graffiti they had completed and they received an electric shock and died.
Overhead power lines on railways are able to create electric arcs meaning that a person does not need to make contact with the power line to receive an electric shock. In 2013 Julius Gerhardt was spraying graffiti on freight carriages when they climbed on top of a carriage intending to tag a bridge. They were holding a spray can in their right hand, and an electric arc jumped over to the spray can and went through their hand, arm, and chest, then exited out of their right foot. They lost consciousness and were then lifted up and carried to a street by the people with them. They were in a coma in hospital for 36 hours, and then later put into a medically induced coma for a week. They received burns to over 90% of their body. The person commented that "I didn't know about arcs. In the arc, like lightning, electricity is conducted through the air. I had the spray can in my right hand. When I raised my hand, the metal became an antenna. The air transmitted the voltageâÂÂand I flew off the train car." It has further been commented that "...it is quite possible that from a distance of one meter, a breakdown [electric arc] will occur on a wristwatch, a phone in a pocket or a belt buckle, that is, on any metal object."
For an electric arc to occur there does not need to be a metallic object on a persons body as the high amount of water in human bodies is enough to create an electric arc. In 2013 a 15 year-old was train surfing when an electric arc jumped over to their body from over head power lines. He was taken to hospital and was in a critical but stable condition and it was thought that he had not "...touched the cables but was struck by an arc of electricity after getting too close to the wires."
In 2012 a person climbed onto the roof of a train and after the train moved a few metres they were hit by an electric arc and the train stopped moving due to a short circuit. The person fell off the side of the train and they received burns to 75% of their body, were put into an artificial coma and were in a very critical condition. At the time of the accident it was commented that "The current radiates from a cable like that up to 1.5 meters away. This is called an arc. So you don't even have to touch the line directly to get an electric shock...". It was further commented that in Moscow, when people are riding "...on the roof of an electric train, there is a risk of injury due to electric shock at a distance of up to 1.5 meters from the high-voltage contact wire. That is, to receive a strong electric shock, it is not necessary to touch the wire - it is enough to be in close proximity. The nominal voltage of the contact wire is 3000 volts. Under operating conditions, it varies from 2000 to 4000 volts. The distance at which the electric current strikes varies depending on the voltage in the contact network and climatic conditions - for example, humidity or air temperature."