Electrical hazards
Electrical safety testers

The physiological effects of electric current are described in IEC 479 as a function of the current flowing through the human body and are classified as follows for power-frequency currents:

• perception threshold: 0.5 mA ;

• no-release" threshold: approx. 10 mA ;

• ventricular fibrillation threshold: largely dependent on the time taken for the current to flow, with the following orders of magnitude :

• 30 ms : 500 mA ;

• 50 ms : 300 mA ;

• 1 s : 30 mA.

To this should be added a weighting coefficient based on the path taken by the current through the body, known as the core current factor. Thus, a current of 200 mA from hand to hand has the same effect as...