Translations:Electrical safety/1/en

The path that current takes from hand-to-hand passes through the heart.

Electricity presents a safety challenge as it creates hazards that we cannot see it. The only way to work safely with electricity is to follow all of the necessary precautions all of the time to avoid accidents. Even small electric shocks can be dangerous to humans as the rhythms of our hearts and brains function using electricity and a shock can disrupt these. As always with electricity, voltage, current and resistance all come to play when thinking about safety with electricity. Human skin has a certain amount of resistance that must be overcome for voltage to be able to pass through it. If you touch the positive (+) and negative (-) terminals of a 12 V battery with dry hands, you should not receive no shock. If your hands are wet or sweaty it may be possible to get a shock as this will greatly lower the resistance of your skin and make it more conductive. Systems with nominal voltages above 24 V are capable of giving a shock, but it is generally accepted that a system with a nominal voltage above 50 V is required to be able to deliver a fatal shock. Nonetheless, it is a best practice to take all possible precautions, including proper PPE and restricting access to unauthorized personnel to avoid any accidents.