During the IEEE 1584 meeting this weekend, I was discussing results of the quick poll question where 100% of the respondents indicated they have received an electric shock.

A great follow up question came out of this discussion. How many times have you been shocked?

How many times have you received an electric shock?

• Once was enough
• 2 to 5 times
• More than I can remember

These results are pretty amazing. So far the survey shows no one has been shocked only once? I guess none of us learned the first time.

Depending on the severity of the shock, "More than I can remember" could be as few as one.

I think I might have been around 8 years old the first time I was shocked. Probably explains a lot.

Very inquisitive at that age.

I would imagine that everyone has been shocked on the job at least once, but hopefully it was minor. How many people are guilty of saying "never again [fill in the blank]" only to have it happen again?

How did you know?

At what voltage?

I've been hit with 120V at 7mA once. A boss turned on the power when I was observing a circuit board.

Interpretation

I am guessing most people's response to this question is a combination of background and interpretation. Some may consider care and job safety a factor as well, but I doubt those people are on this site.
I have worked in protection and control panels for the last 30 years, and these panels usually contain up to 250V DC as well as up to 240V AC supplies and circuits. I have never received a "severe" boot, but have had numerous 'tingles' and 'pulses', either of which I would still consider a 'shock'. Most people I have worked with also consider these experiences a reality when you work in these environments. I have also worked extensively in high voltage over the last 35 years, but have never received even a 'tingle' in those situations.
Given that the majority of people on here are probably experienced in the electrical industry, the results of this question do not surprise me at all, and I suspect that those who have experienced few shocks have the advantage of working with all equipment dead, or have few years of experience.
Let's see if that response gets up someone's nose!

If that is the case, just think of all those times you have tested a 9 volt battery on your tongue for a remote control car. ~JW

The next question to ask is :
" If you were wearing V rated gloves would it have happened ?"
Most, if not all, will answer no .
Which means they were working ( or playing ) underprotected .

I think most of us predate widespread adherence to regulations on rubber insulating gloves, insulated tools and EEWP; when I was an industrial electrical apprentice we had none of these things. The saying went, “show me an electrician who’s never been shocked and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t do any work.�

I think things have changed a lot in the past ten years with the focus on NFPA-70E. Our build spec even specifies all electrical panels now use finger-safe components or that they be suitably guarded to protect against electrical shock; in the past we considered them guarded since they were inside an enclosure. Nowadays if you get poked by anything over 50V you were most likely doing something you shouldn’t have been.