Common Dangers Residential Electricians Encounter

Everyone knows that electricians run the a risk of being shocked. Many professional electricians get shocked but rarely does this kill them. Your reaction can be more dangerous than the shock itself. Receiving a shock at the top of an extension ladder might only numb your finger but if you overreact you could fall off the ladder and break your leg.
An electrical shock occures when any part of your body touches 2 things;
1) Something electrically hot. The copper in a hot wire, the metal bus bar in a panel, the metal part of your screw driver as it touches a hot screw on a circuit breaker.
2) Something grounded. This can be the metal frame of an electrical panel, a steel post, wet concrete or something metal that is connected to the earth or grounded including a neutral which is also referred to as a "grounded conductor".
The electricity passes in your body where you are touching the hot and out your body where you are touching the ground or something connected to the ground like a metal pipe or a metal column. If you touch the end of a wire with a hot, neutral and ground, you will feel the pain as electricity passes in and out your fingertip from the black wire to the ground wire or the grounded white neutral wire. The better the insulation the more safe you will become. Dry hands provide more insulation then wet hands. Rubber soled shoes provide more insulation than bare feet. Standing on dry wood while working on a hot panel is safer than standing on wet concrete.
You can touch something electrically hot like a 20 amp metal wire conductor and not get shocked but only if you don't touch anything grounded. (the ground, water on the ground or any electrically conductive thing that is connected to the ground.)
The higher the voltage the more dangerous. Getting shocked with standard residential voltages of 120 or 240 volts will hurt and can kill but it is not as dangerous as the higher commercial and utility voltages.
In addition to being shocked, there are other dangers.You might also;
Cut your finger with a knife while trying to strip off insulation.
Drill into your hand or get your long hair ripped off by a spinning drill bit.
Fall off a ladder or fall in a hole in the floor.
Step through the ceiling sheet rock.
Slip and fall on a plank being used as a ramp where stairs are not yet built.
Smash your finger with your hammer while stapling a wire.
Stab yourself on a nail sticking down thru the roof or wall.
Take a hit from a falling object.
Throw sparks and destroy a hand tool when you cut a hot 14/2 with ground wire cable.
Twist your arm or get knocked in the head by a powerful spinning drill handle.