Electrocution and other things

[Andrew Schrock]

On Fri, 26 Jun 1998, Bill Layer wrote:
<long snip> 

Bill,

I hardly think that reply was necessary. There is such a thing as private
email if you have non-productive comments to make. 

But to respond: My point was that you shouldn't say "150/120 volts isn't
lethal, it just stings a bit, therefore I don't need to take the same
precautions as when I deal with higher voltages." As has been mentioned
here many times before, you need to treat any high voltage as potentially
harmful, even if you know people who have been shocked by that much and
have had no ill effects. Everybody has been or knows somebody who has been
shocked by home 120vac, but that doesn't mean the people should be
careless around it. 

The story was was not intended to serve as a rule of thumb, but instead to
illustrate a point, and you should take it as such, and not literally.
Example: you won't ever stop driving, but you always use a seatbelt. You
won't stop getting drunk but you wouldn't get drunk and then go water
skiing. You won't stop working with 120 or 150 volts but you should make
sure your workspace is clear and that there's proper grounding. 

Get it? 

Also I'm sure that if you knew even the first thing about me you'd find it
funny that I was chastening somebody on safety issues.. 

Andrew

| Andrew Schrock							|
| Network Programmer, Synthesizer and electronic music enthusiast	|
| aschrock at cs.brandeis.edu						|