Table of Contents
Advertisement
voltage hazard. You can learn to recognize situations that present a
threat and how to avoid them.
When is Voltage "High"?
As stated earlier, any voltage that can kill you should be treated as
high voltage. Voltages associated with prime power generally do
not jump the air gap between people and the equipment. Usually
exposed circuit elements such as a terminal, bare piece of wire, or
some non-insulated surface must be touched.
One of the problems associated with prime power is some
equipment can be "floating" above ground. In this case, if you place
one hand on the equipment chassis and the other on earth ground,
you can be jolted, injured, or killed. 440VAC can stimulate an
involuntary muscle response that will either literally throw you
across a room or seize and hold you across the voltage terminals.
600 or more volts can hold you indefinitely. If the potential is
sufficient to drive 200 milliamps through your body you will be
held indefinitely. Some people consider the 200 to 600 volt range to
be worse than potentials of thousands of volts.
General Guidelines
In addition to the above, the following practices have proven
effective for personnel who deal with high voltage equipment.
S-2
Note: The guidelines presented in this chapter are not academic.
They are based on the experience of engineers and technicians
who have years of experience with high voltage circuits.
a. Hands off. Avoid contact with any potential source of high
voltage. Keep hands out of the equipment when it is
operating.
b. Avoid accidental contact. Make sure that some other part of
your body does not come in contact with the high voltage
circuits. It is easy to forget the hazards when you are
concentrating on a frustrating or interesting task. Pens and
badges in shirt pockets could contact the equipment.
S A F E T Y
Installation and Operation Manual
Advertisement
Table of Contents
