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[AMPS] Hand in the pocket?

To: <amps@contesting.com>
Subject: [AMPS] Hand in the pocket?
From: W8JI@contesting.com (Tom Rauch)
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 10:15:41 -0400
> Is there any evidence that one's overall safety is improved by keeping
> a hand in a pocket?
> 
> Who came up with this rule? When? Why?

When I got zapped by the HV lead that flew up and attached itself 
to my wrist, I was standing on a HV blanket like the kind electric 
companies use on live power lines.

I had one hand "in my pocket", and was working with one hand.

I opened a main breaker that was feeding a reversed 4160 pole pig, 
and burned a half-dollar sized hole in my wrist. The ground path 
was out my fingers that were flipping the power switch on a 
grounded panel.

The worse burns were at the tips of my fingers and my wrist, and 
there was very little damage past my middle forearm, that area 
looked more like a sun tan instead of being charred black or 
blistered like the area in the current path.

I'd hate to think about what would have happened if I was standing 
on the concrete floor, or had my other hand on a grounded panel. It 
sure seems to me it saved my life.
73, Tom W8JI
W8JI@contesting.com 

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