[TCML] Electrical safety, was Greenhorn Coiler

[Chip Atkinson <chip@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings,

Safety is a set of practices designed to reduce risk to an acceptable
level.  People's levels of acceptable risk vary consideraby.  On top of
this each individual has a different level of "ruggedness" as well as
other unknown "freak accident factors" that contribute to the outcome
of an incident.  Often unknown factors contribute to someone's death
from what would normally not permanentaly harm most humans.

Because someone has survived something doesn't mean it's safe.
Similarly because someone has died during an activity doesn't mean that
it's dangerous.  Some people have survived falls from airplanes without
parachutes and many people die in bed.  That doesn't mean that it's ok
to jump from a plane without a parachute or that going to bed will get
you killed.

When talking about safety it's important to think about what is an
acceptable level of risk.  Think about the things you do to protect
yourself -- seatbelts, locks on doors, gfi circuits in bathrooms, tamper
evident seals on medications, insulated wires, etc.

You use and are protected by safety devices and practices all
around you protecting you from risks that you wish to reduce.
Why would you wish to increase your risk by not following safety
practices when working with high voltage?

Tesla coils are fascinating and fun but have the potential (I just had
to slip that word in) for causing considerable harm.

The tesla list is not a place for "faces of death" type discussions,
but it is good to re-examine safety practices.  

Chip




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