Accident Commentaries
II. Accident due to the capacitor effect
The job consisted in determining the causes why an armature cable connecting two high voltage cabins was perforated.
One of the ends of the installed cable was not earthed (a fact that was ascertained later).
The electrician was told to remove the existing ground while the cable was live (6,000V) and when he proceeded to do so, he suffered an electric shock that caused his death.
Why did the accident occur?
- Due to not being correctly connected to earth, the metallic armature of the cable became charged due to a capacitive effect; i.e. it acted as a condenser, generating voltage between the armature itself and earth of around 3,000 V.
How could the accident have been avoided?
- By removing the grounding cable, with the network dead and using suitable personal protective equipment.
