I am pleased to follow this discussion and it's sometimes serious sometimes not so serious comments. To add a little levity, I am reminded of a story.
My father worked testing high voltage distribution substations for business customers. One time, at a cement company, he was testing circuit breakers. The circuit was locked out, taggged out. My father was inside the downstream circuit breaker box polishing the contacts. He got out to fetch a tool. Somebody ignored the lockout, tag out and turned the upstream circuit back on. My father climbed back in and promptly took something like 7,200 volts at 3,600 amps (if memory serves). Four square blocks and a local hospital went down with him. He survived and was wanting a steak and a cigarette the next day. He was lucky in that it was hot, he was sweating and the main current path seemed to be from his right shoulder to his right knee. He was thrown from the box and I suppose the contact didn't last all that long. How all this fits into the discussion of what is the critical current for injury or death, I'm not so sure. What I do know is that for most of us, the cost of protection from 5 mA or 50 mA is too small to argue about. And having had my own share of high voltage or high current shocks over the years, and while many don't seem to bother me too much anymore, I still don't want them to occur. Of course, maybe I'm just getting old. ________________________ Regards, Scott Douglas Principal Compliance Engineer ECRM Incorporated Telephone: 1-508-851-0207 Facsimilie: 1-508-851-7016 e-mail: [email protected] ________________________
