# Dangers of static electricity: post them!



## 76nemo

She must be pretty dramatic. Static levels can breach a fairly large level, but hospitalized?


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## kaboler

She was taken to a hospital in an ambulance, but I don't know if she was hospitalized. All I know is that my friend felt like a fool because he was the supervisor.

Apparently, they should have been wearing some kind of ground, like computer nerds put around their wrist when working on computers.


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## Rockyd

More myth buster activity about Static over at the Holt wesite -

http://forums.mikeholt.com/archive/index.php/t-69060.html?

And of course snopes -

http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/gasvapor.asp

Off topic a bit, but good stuff!:thumbup:


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## 76nemo

kaboler said:


> She was taken to a hospital in an ambulance, but I don't know if she was hospitalized. All I know is that my friend felt like a fool because he was the supervisor.
> 
> Apparently, they should have been wearing some kind of ground, like computer nerds put around their wrist when working on computers.


 
At this point, I am that nerd. I'm working board level at the time.

You CAN get hammered by static, but nothing to have a trip in the ambulance over. I see some hopeful time off here over something very over exaggerated...................


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## don_resqcapt19

kaboler said:


> ... and a friend of mine was supervising people vacumming coal dust for some reason, and a girl had to be taken to a hospital after getting the STATIC ELECTRICITY shock of a lifetime. I guess vacuuming coal dust for 2 hours and then touching something grounded isn't a good idea.
> 
> Stories?


I won't by that one...While it is very true that using a vacuum can create static, they would be using a conductive hose or other static control measures to vacuum up coal dust. It they didn't there would be a static ignited dust explosion.


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## sparky970

If you're using a scissor lift with the white nylon tires, there should be a ground braid or something making contact with the ground. If there's not, look out.


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## Englishsparky

Static certainly keeps you on your toes, but it's not that bad...


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## Fiki

This is probably the scariest thing I can imagine from static.


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## sparky.jp

As mentioned above, when using any kind of aerial lift equipment with non-marking tires (typically they are white and are not at all conductive), you have to be careful.

I used to work for one of the major aerial lift manufacturers and I have experienced the high level of static electricity that can be generated first-hand. The machines are supposed to be equipped with a static ground strap (a 1" wide by 1/8" thick piece of conductive rubber, you can buy one for your car at NAPA for under $10, Gates rubber makes them, steel link chain can be used as well), BUT if you are operating on a non-conductive surface, such as an epoxy-coated floor in a manufacturing plant or warehouse, the static strap doesn't help because the floor coating itself is an insulator so there are no free electrons to transfer up the static strap to the machine.

From the service department we heard stories of our lifts being used inside of semiconductor manufacturing plants. Because the lifts are very heavy, the maintenance personnel would lay down visqueen plastic over plywood on top of their epoxied concrete floors. Now add a lift with non-marking tires. When operators would drive around and then get near a source of free electrons (anything grounded like a steel roof support beam), a lightning-bolt of static electricity would arc between machine and post, sometimes over a foot in distance. It would often fry the electronic controls on the aerial lift right on the spot ("break time" :laughing. 

The best thing to do in the situation above would be to connect the chassis of the machine to a known ground, using something like a 16-gauge extension cord. That will keep the machine at ground potential while it is driving around, which is when the static charge is built up.


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## JohnR

My BIL was working at a ski factory years ago. He was on a machine that had sliding sheets of plastic which it would then machine and cut into parts. This machine had very large and multiple grounds to bond it to the building steel, yet the constant one way sliding of plastic on plastic made such a charge, it would jump 12" regularly.

They had a super who was very afraid of electricity. He was walking by one day, when one of the guys reached out behind him and a mini bolt of lightning smacked the guy on his rear. Jumped about 2ft. from his finger.


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## Widestance_Politics

I was shopping at the local Wal-Mart:jester: here in AZ and kept getting a static shock....I guess they hang a conductive strap on the carts down here. So now I check each cart before walking off....


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## Putang_Ina

Widestance_Politics said:


> I was shopping at the local Wal-Mart:jester: here in AZ and kept getting a static shock....I guess they hang a conductive strap on the carts down here. So now I check each cart before walking off....


Scissor lift on tile floor of box store can be about as bad as an electric fence. Strap a slack wire to the side pointed up so as you raise up it will be the first thing to make contact with the structure.


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## mattsilkwood

There's a plastic plant here that's horrible. All the plastic flake runs through vacuum pipes in the ceiling and one of their lifts is missing the strap. They have a piece of #6 hanging down but it comes up missing every now and then. That thing will light you up every time you move.


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## nitro71

My beaver got hurt one time after I built up some static.. And grabbed onto the car door.


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