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I experienced an electrical shock while replacing an A/C Fan Coil's 120vac, single phase motor that was above the ceiling grid in an office, while I stood on a fiberglass ladder and having no other voltage, neutral, nor ground point in the electrical shock -It was severe enough to lock me to it and leave blisters on entry and exit points. Here are the details: I was time constrained and in a hurry; and convinced of the concept of the "bird on a high tension wire" not getting shocked, and not troubling with turning off the breaker NOT putting on gloves, I began to strip the Stranded (THHN) "live" wire feed to make the necessary connection to the motor lead, using a wire stripper designed to strip solid copper insulated wire -this requires a little extra "umph" to pull the insulation off the stranded copper wire; so holding the Wire Stripper in my right hand (index Finger touching its metal, uninsulated portion of the Wire Stripper) and my left hand holding the "live" (120vac) wire by its insulated covering, I used my left Thumb against the Wire Stripper for the "umph" to pull the insulation away; at which point I compressed the Stripper to cut the insulation and pressed my thumb against the Wire Stripper to pull the wire apart from the end of the now stripped insulation; at which moment, I became hung to an electric current traveling through my Hands, Arms and Chest. I thought of walking down the ladder, to free myself; but thought I might NOT be able to break loose; so I slung my legs out side ways to cause the ladder to tip out and I fell to the floor, landing unconscious but freed of the shock! It taught me that a single voltage can cause death by electrical shock and the "bird on the wire" is a "false flag" concept.... My thought (as to how that was possible) is that the left Thumb and right index (less than an inch apart on the wire stripper) set up a capacitor circuit and my arms and chest became the dielectric!?!
