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Metals In Our Body
By Jestine Yong on February 13, 2012
I could recall during the early days when I started the basic electronics course, the lecturer mentioned about the danger of having metals in our body. I was wondering actually how many of you did remove your wedding ring, bracelet and etc from your body before you start to perform the troubleshooting job? One has to be really cautioned about it because there was a ERG member that told me he got electrocuted before because of those metals in his body. Whether you realize it or not sometimes we may tend to make mistake when the metal in our body accidentally touching on live circuit! I just want to hear about your opinion on this, please comment-thanks!
Jestine
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Waleed Rishmawi
February 14, 2012 at 2:10 am
yea, I never thought of that before. I usually keep my wedding ring on my finger all the time when I trouble shoot. so far I never had any problem with that. maybe I need to take it off when I work in the shop..thanks for sharing
lito mendoza
February 14, 2012 at 9:41 am
Work Place Jewelry Safety
By Al Bondigas, eHow Contributor
While jewelry makes a fashion or personal statement for men and women, such adornments are best left at home when it's time to go to work on certain jobs. Even watches and rings can be a safety or health hazard. Many workplaces require employees to shed the baubles, bangles and beads before starting their tasks, citing health and safety reasons.
Machinery
Like loose clothes and hair, large jewelry can get caught in the moving parts of machinery. When this happens, necklaces, bracelets, watches and even rings can cause the loss of a limb or finger. But while most industrial plants require employees to remove watches and other jewelry as a matter of course, this is also an issue in a relatively safe office. Jewelry can also get hung up in office equipment. Even when working on a car, your watch and rings can get caught on a moving or overheated part. Jewelry can also break off and damage equipment, or it can become a potentially lethal projectile when coming out of a moving piece of machinery.
Electrical Work
All jewelry should be removed when you are working around live circuitry. Metal conducts electricity, and an electrical charge through a ring or metal watch band can be extremely hazardous. Severe burns can result. In addition, accidentally touching electrical contacts with metal jewelry can damage the equipment, especially important when working around computer parts.
Working Around Heated Surfaces
Metal also conducts heat, which makes it a hazard to wear jewelry while working around anything hot. This may include anyone working in a kitchen or handling a welding torch. A ring can become superheated and severely burn the finger.
Chemicals
Jewelry can create several safety hazards for those working around chemicals. A spilled or splashed caustic chemical can get under a ring or watchband, burning or irritating the skin. In addition, some chemicals, particularly chlorine and ammonia, can damage silver or gold jewelry.
Sanitation
Many food-handling companies prohibit the wearing of jewelry for sanitation purposes. Rings and watches provide hiding places for bacteria that may cause food-borne illness. Some food preparation companies allow a wedding band if the worker wears a glove to cover it. But in a food-processing plant, gloves may not be an option, so all jewelry usually comes off before the employee enters the work area.
Resources
LeClasp: LeClasp Workplace Safety Division
admin
February 14, 2012 at 10:44 am
HI Lito,
Thanks for showing article.
Jestine
beh
February 15, 2012 at 12:31 pm
IMPORYANT POINTS
baiju
February 16, 2012 at 9:44 pm
yes ,metals in our body decreases resistance of body and thus allow more current to flow and surge the power thus increases the chance of being electricuted.
admin
February 17, 2012 at 10:04 pm
HI Baiju,
Thanks for sharing.
Jestine
Mike Kaonga
February 27, 2012 at 10:54 am
Hi,
It is one of the most dangerous and fatal accident. My professional is Power Electrical and you are not allowed to operate with metal at-touched to your body unless there are properly insulated other wise you will be subjected extreme high voltages (ie 220v,380v and 415v). such voltages are not friendly at all, safety should be considered first. Yes electronics generates higher voltages which some static voltage but all the same there is no room for errors. In what ever the form of power is ,it is too deadly. friends safety first work later issue you are clean on your body NO METAL is hanging take care.
Mike
Jestine Yong
February 28, 2012 at 2:12 am
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the good comment.
Jestine
bill
December 17, 2013 at 4:59 am
well ,some years a go I was testing out a 300 amp spot welder that i had got of ebay on my car, obviously i disconnected the battery and alternator to be safe than sorry, anyway I decided to spot weld a new A panel on my classic mini,it seemed to b working ok, then suddenly there was a short through my wedding ring to earth from the body of the spot welder,where a large current heated up very quickly and gave me a very nasty ring burn that took months to heal completely,also i had to have the ring cut off as it made my finger swell considerately, since then i do not wear any body jewellery ever whe woring with DC OR AC,, THE SHORT EARTH WAS IN THE WINDINGS OF THE SPOT WELDER ,,BILL
Jestine Yong
December 17, 2013 at 10:18 am
Hi Bill,
Thanks for sharing and hope the readers could learn from your experience.
Jestine
Humberto N. Rdguez.
December 18, 2013 at 2:50 am
I'm not used to wear rings, bracelets, etc because it's very dangerous. I have a friend that produced a short-circuit between his ring and HV of a TV set. Another one loose half a finger when he was going down from a truck. I mean it's very dangerous, specially in electronics work.
Robert
December 18, 2013 at 3:01 pm
Yes metal on our body can be dangerous, and also long hair. I had long hair when I was a kid. I worked at a machine shop after school. At work I would keep my hair in a pony-tail.
One day I was running a very powerful low speed - high torque drill press. Somehow I moved the wrong way and the drill caught the end of my pony-tail. By the time I hit the switch to turn off the machine, my head was against the drill chuck. One more second and it would've broke my neck. I was scared to death!
After school the next day I had my hair cut and never wore it long again...
People need to remember Murphy's Law: Anything that can happen, will happen. And machines and electricity are not prejudiced - they don't care what color you are or where you were born!
Jestine Yong
December 18, 2013 at 9:31 pm
HI Robert,
Thanks for sharing your true life experience.
Jestine