Specialists in

Electrical Training

Hazards of Electricity
 ELECTRIC SHOCK

The human body muscles are all electrically controlled, receiving current
pulses from the brain to activate. A current pulse causes the muscle to
contract and requires about 10 pulses per second to maintain the muscle
contracted.

OUR 50 HERTZ (100 PULSES PER SECOND) SUPPLY SYSTEM IS

THEREFORE EMINENTLY SUITED TO KILL when applied to the heart
muscle.

The majority of the human body is a saline solution and therefore offers little
resistance to electric current, our outer covering of skin however is dead and,
whilst dry, offers the majority of the resistance we have to electric shock. The
skin does however break down due to burning and can be regarded as a non-
linear resistance (Metrosil), thus the higher the voltage the lower the apparent
resistance.

The graph overleaf shows the apparent decrease of body resistance with
increase of voltage.

This outer resistance varies from person to person and with physical and
emotional conditions so does the body’s capability to withstand the electric
current, hence, even the Extra Low Voltage (50 volts/25 volts to earth) could
be dangerous to some people.

The threshold of feeling, (when a ‘tingling’ can be just be felt), is about 1mA at
50 Hertz and 15mA would cause the recipient to ‘hold on’ as the muscles
contracted. Above 50mA Fibrillation will occur if maintained for more than
half a second and, if the heart muscles are affected, death can occur.

Direct current (less than 5% ripple) and High Frequency A.C. (above 10
kilohertz) pose less of a danger from Fibrillation but, have alternative hazards
of their own.
Time is also a factor in electrocution and a much lower current than 50mA can
be lethal if it is maintained.

Earth Leakage Circuit Breakers (ELCB’s or RCCB’s) should trip in 40

milliseconds or less with a fault current of 30mA. At 40 milliseconds it
would take approximately 400mA to cause heart stoppage, hence their use is
to be recommended, especially with hand held tools using our domestic
supply voltage.
 Apparent Decrease in Body Resistance With Increase in Voltage
Ohms x1000

10
9
8
7
Ohms x 1000

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Voltage (R.M.S.)

Ohm’s Law

At 240 V apparent Resistance = 2000 ohms. Current = 120 mA

At 110 V apparent Resistance = 4000 ohms. Current = 27.5mA

At 55 V apparent Resistance = 10000 ohms. Current = 5.5mA

Mains powered tools on the work site should be 110V isolation transformer
with the secondary centre tapped to earth giving an effective 55V to earth.
ELECTRIC SHOCK

Effect of Current on the Body

Body resistance (mostly skin resistance) varies from person to person and wet
or dry conditions, however tests carried out show that Hand to Hand currents
at 50 Hz. Could give the following results: -

0.9 to 1.2mA Current just perceptible

1.2 to 1.6mA Tickling sensation in the hand as from ants.

1.6 to 2.2mA Sensation that the hand has gone to sleep

2.2 to 2.8mA Same sensation perceptible in the wrist also

2.8 to 3.5mA Slight stiffening of the hand

3.4 to 4.5mA Considerable stiffening of the hand, the lower arm

growing
tired up to the elbow

4.0 to 5.0mA Feeling of cramp and slight trembling in the hands.

4.5 to 5.0mA Cramp in the lower arm

5.0 to 7.0mA Slight cramp in the upper arm (unpleasant)

6.0 mA Women can just break this contact

9.0 mA Men can just break this contact.

15.0 to 20.0 mA Release impossible, cannot be tolerated for much over 15

minutes.

20.0 to 40.0 mA Serious and very painful contraction of the muscles;

breathing stops, but normally resumes if current is
interrupted within 5 seconds.

50.0 to 100.0 mA Ventricular fibrillation; a state of the heart leading directly

to death. The heart muscles are unable to fully relax,
thus pumping stops.
At High Voltage (above 1000v) the severity of the muscular contractions are
such that the recipient can be thrown clear by the shock and thus survive, but
this is by no means usual, and is usually accompanied by severe burns.

At the lower voltages the chances are that the muscular contractions will be
such as to prevent release from the contact (Hold On) and time becomes a
significant factor. For death can occur at relatively low currents if these
are maintained for long periods.

ARC AND BLAST

Other dangers arising from electricity are in the form of ARC and BLAST.

Arcs occur whenever a switching operation is performed. In a device

designed to interrupt current, the arc is contained within the switching device
and extinguished by the interrupter.

However should the switching device not be designed to interrupt current e.g.
an isolator on switching, an arc will be drawn which may not be interrupted
and which could result in a short circuit.

An arc can also arise from the breakdown of an air gap due to a voltage
across the gap e.g. a flashover between phases or to earth causing a high
current to flow under a fault situation. The air ionises causing a low resistance
path and thus a high current (e.g. short circuit) results.

The effects of the arc, the temperature of which can be almost 20,000 °C is to
cause eye damage and severe burning to body and clothing. Personnel in
close proximity can also be affected by the arc which will set fire to
inappropriate clothing.

Having established a power arc, blast will occur which is the result of
vaporisation of the materials involved e.g. copper contacts busbars etc.
During this process copper can expand to 67,000 times it volume and the
effects are explosive.

The fault energy is proportional to I²t and this is a measure of the damage that
can result from the fault.

Thus limiting the magnitude of the current and the time for which the current
flows will limit the amount of fault energy/energy let through and consequently
reduce the damage and potential danger. This limitation is achieved by the
use of protective devices.