Marine Electrical Safe Work Practice

ChevronTexaco Shipping Company

Revised 18-May-2004

Appendix E - Electrical Shock and Injuries

A. SIMPLY SHOCKING
Extracted from the July 2001 Chevron Shipping Safety Bulletin
In electrical work, the major dangers are severe electrical burns or death by electrocution.
Electrical injury manifests in a variety of forms, ranging from cardio-pulmonary arrest and minimal
tissue damage to devastating electrocution and vaporization of major body parts. Alternating
current is dangerous because it can produce tonic muscle contractions and the victim may be
unable to disconnect from the source of electricity.
Further, cardiac arrest and coma frequently accompany electrocution with alternating current, and
these events are most likely to occur at current frequencies of 50 to 60 cycles. Tissue damage
caused by line voltages of less than 1,000 volts is arbitrarily designated as a low voltage injury.
High tension electrical injury is caused by line voltages above 1,000 volts.
Electrocution is when the heart stops and death follows. Our body generates a very small
electrical pulse that tells the heart when to beat. This tiny natural current registers only in
millionths of ampere. A shock of one milliamp, therefore, is quite a strong shock, and when this
electrical shock current passes through the heart, it overwhelms the natural body signal. Even
though the shock is in milliamps, it is still a thousand times bigger than the normal body current.
During an electrical shock, the heart muscles get all confused as to what they are supposed to do
and they just quiver, causing a ventricular fibrillation that the heart cant overcome without
assistance. A person will die within minutes from lack of Oxygen in the blood supply unless
natural pumping rhythm of the heart can be restored.
Most people are aware of the dangers of electrocution associated with working on electrical
equipment. Few people, however, recognize the extreme hazards associated with electrical arc,
or a long, sustained powerful spark that creates the shape of an arc in mid-air. The heat
generated from an arc can reach temperatures far above waters boiling point, and a person
standing close to an arc can be severely burned.
Arc burns occur without actual contact of body surface to the source of electricity. Very high
voltages are required to produce this charge transfer. When arcing occurs, the duration of the arc
is brief, and the burn produced is usually limited to the body surface. A variant of arc injury occurs
when electrical current being conducted along a body part flashes directly to an adjacent part.
Electricity causes injury by four mechanisms:
1. Direct contact,
2. Conduction,
3. Arcing, and
4. Secondary ignition.
Low voltage electrical sources produce direct injury at the point of contact. Skin and tissue are
damaged most commonly, although muscle and bone can be damaged as well.
High voltage current not only causes direct injury at the point of contact but also damages tissues
that conduct the electricity through the body.

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Marine Electrical Safe Work Practice

ChevronTexaco Shipping Company
Revised 18-May-2004

B. Dont Be SHOCKED By Your Work

Extracted from the August 1998 Chevron Shipping Safety Bulletin
All of our vessels are constructed of steel and operate in a saltwater environment. From an
electrical safety point of view, this is like working in a bathtub.
The human body has electrical resistance that varies between different parts of the body and
continually changes during the day. Because electrical current increases with voltage, we need
more protection when working on higher voltage equipment. Working on live circuits can present
electrical shock hazards in two forms, i.e., two points of contact within the circuit or one point of
contact and the steel hull (ground).
Electrical currents from circuits operating as low as 30 volts can be detected by the human
senses if there is low resistance at the point of contact (moist and salty). As current is what
causes damage to humans, the effects are documented as follows:

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