EC-16.2 Electrical and Laboratory Safety
You can explain what makes electricity dangerous to a person, work safely with mains and stored energy, identify the hazards in a laboratory beyond electricity, and respond correctly when something goes wrong.
Safety is treated as a topic here rather than a paragraph in a laboratory sheet, because a rule without its reason is a rule that gets skipped when it is inconvenient. Everything is stated as a hazard and a mechanism, so that a reader can reason about a situation nobody wrote a rule for. Local regulations are deliberately not quoted, since they differ and a public map must not pretend otherwise.
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What actually harms a person, and it is current
Current through the body causes the harm, and the path matters more than the total. A few tens of milliamperes across the chest can be fatal, which is far below the current any fuse would notice.
NPTEL: Industrial Safety Engineering (IIT Kharagpur) · CourseSkin resistance, and why wet hands change everything
Dry skin has a high resistance and moisture lowers it by orders of magnitude. A voltage that is harmless in one condition is dangerous in another, which is why a single safe voltage cannot be quoted.
NPTEL: Industrial Safety Engineering (IIT Kharagpur) · CourseWorking on mains, and the one-hand rule
Isolate, verify with an instrument you have proved, and keep one hand away so no path crosses the chest. Never work alone on mains, and never rely on a switch you did not personally verify.
NPTEL: Industrial Safety Engineering (IIT Kharagpur) · CourseStored energy, and equipment that is dangerous when off
Capacitors in a converter, a charged battery, a wound inductor and a compressed spring all hold energy after the supply is removed. Discharge and then verify before touching anything.
NPTEL: Industrial Safety Engineering (IIT Kharagpur) · CourseLaboratory hazards that are not electrical
Soldering fumes and burns, chemicals in etching and cleaning, compressed gas, lasers, and eye damage from any of several sources. Each has a control, and the control is only used if the hazard is known.
NPTEL: Industrial Safety Engineering (IIT Kharagpur) · CourseWhen something goes wrong
Isolate the supply before touching a person, call for help, and report the incident even when nobody was hurt. The report is what prevents the next occurrence and is the step most often skipped.
NPTEL: Industrial Safety Engineering (IIT Kharagpur) · Course
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