Don’t work on live electrical circuits!
Even 120-Volts AC can kill you…
Everyone,
Never work on a live 120-volt AC circuit. Always disconnect from electrical power first. Even trained electricians can be killed while working on live circuits. We’ll talk about locking out circuit breakers in a future article!
See this tragic story that was posted on ABC4 News last week. The updated news story is available HERE.
Contractor electrocuted inside Riverton Chick-fil-A
by Jonathon Sharp - ABC4 News
Josh Lee, a spokesperson for the city, said the contractor was “severely electrocuted” shortly before noon while working on a dishwasher at the Chick-fil-A location in the Mountain View Village shopping complex.
Emergency crews tried to resuscitate the man for roughly 30 minutes, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The man was a contractor and not directly employed by Chick-fil-A, Lee said. The man’s name has not been released.
Police Riverton police are investigating the incident.
Always Respect Electricity
Approximately 1,000 contractors per year are electrocuted. Many of these are roofers and painters who get their ladders tangled in overhead power lines. But there’s always a handful of electricians who get complacent around live electricity. If you don’t respect it electricity can kill you!
Let’s play safe out there! - Mike
Actually you are required by NFPA 70E (Electrical Safety in the Workplace) to de-energize a circuit when working on that circuit, unless voltage testing or troubleshooting the circuit. Then you must still wear the required PPE to do the voltage testing and troubleshooting on the circuit. Many are not up to date on NFPA 70E requirements. Even with knowledge of these requirements, I've seen others ignore them and just go to work on something as it takes more time to prepare for the task.
I am very skeptical of the US 1,000 deaths by electrocution per year that the NCBI website claims, for years the NFPA has put the number at around 300 total , this is the very first I've seen 1,000 referenced since I began keeping tabs on it over 30 years ago. What gives? https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Fire-statistics-and-reports/Electrical/osFatalElectricalInjuries.pdf
Possibly there is some confusion as to what "electrocution" actually means. I always thought it meant you were dead but it seems that some believe it can mean injury as well, depending on where you look. One website I saw says 4,000 people are electrocuted in the workplace each year and 400 each year at home https://www.cullanlaw.com/blog/2015/may/may-is-national-electrical-safety-month-do-you-k/
Quite a wide variation depending on where you look.
Still the advice to never work a live circuit is sound, many DIYs don't know the proper test procedures or rely on panel labeling which should never, ever be relied on. Electricians are at more risk simply because they work on it all day every day which increases their chances of shock or electrocution