IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 34, NO.

5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1998 911

A Summary of the IEC Protection

Against Electric Shock 
Giuseppe Parise,   Member, IEEE 

 Abstract— This
This paper
paper provi
provides
des a summar
summary y of the IEC pro- pro- Rated residual operating current of the pro-
tectio
tection
n agains
againstt electr
electric
ic shock.
shock. This
This prote
protecti
ction
on is provi
provided
ded by tective device.
appropriate basic measures as follows: 1) for protection both in
Disconnec
Disconnecting
ting time of the protecti
protective
ve de-
normal
normal service
service and in case of a fault
fault (again
(against
st both
both direc
directt and
indirect contact), use low and safe voltage of 50 V and below; vice.
2) for protection in normal service (against direct contact), use Current passing through the human body.
insulation and/or enclose live parts or use isolation distance; and Fault current of the first fault (IT-system).
3) for protecti
protection
on in case
case of a fault
fault (again
(against
st indir
indirec
ectt contac
contact),
t), Ground-fault current.
prevent conducting parts not normally energized from becoming
Line conductor.
live.
live. This is accomplis
accomplished
hed by groundin
grounding g and automatic
automatic discon-
nection of the supply, by use of Class II equipment (as double or Neutral conductor.
equivalent insulation), or by separating the supply from ground. Ground-fault conductor.
IEC publication 364-4-41 “Electrical installations of buildings,” Resist
Resistanc
ancee of ground
ground electr
electrode
ode for the
(Part 4, Chapter 41) classifies types of system grounding as TN- equipment system grounding.
system, TT-system, and IT-system. Development of this summary
Resistance of body, hand to feet.
is based
based on actual
actual hazard
hazard risk
risk analys
analysis
is of potent
potential
ial incide
incidents
nts
to suggest criterion by which the appropriate measures can be Resistance of ground electrode for the neu-
applied to avoid or mitigate the injury or damage. tral point of supply.
 Index Terms— Electric risk, protection against electric shock,
Resistance of ground electrode for the sys-
system grounding. tem grounding.
Nominal voltage, ac rms.
Conventional voltage limit, that is, the ad-
NOMENCLATURE missible
missible limit value of the touch voltage voltage
CP Circuit protection. persisting for a time that exceeds or is equal
Direct, indirect contact. to 5 s (in normal conditions, 50 V ac rms
Risk index of electric contact. or 120 V ripple-free dc).
Probability that someone touches conduc- Conv
Convenenti
tion
onal
al vol
volta
tage
ge lim
limit
it inin time
time
tive part. stated,
stated, that is, the admissible
admissible limit value
Probabili
Probability
ty that electric
electrical
al equipment
equipment re- of the touch voltage persisting for a time
mains
mains in servic
servicee withou
withoutt failur
failuree on the that
that does
does not
not exce
exceeded seco
second
nds.s.
conductive enclosure that bridges the iso- Voltage to ground; ac rms.
lation distance. Prospective touch voltage; ac rms.
Probability that the conductive part under Impe
Impedadanc
ncee of line line cond
conducuctotor,
r, sour
source
ce
consideration does not perform the condi- impedance included.
tion . Impedance of neutral conductor.
Automatic operating current of the discon- Impedance of ground-fault conductor.
necting
necting protecti
protective
ve device
device within
within the time Impe
Impedadanc
ncee of grou ground
nd-f
-fau
ault
lt cond
conducuc--
stated in Table II. tor—main circuit and feeder.
Current with s. Impe
Impedadanc
ncee of grou ground
nd-f
-fau
ault
lt cond
conducuc--
Minim
Minimumum curren
currentt causin
causing g the instan
instanta-
ta- tor—branch circuit.
neous tripping of the overcurrent protective Impedance
Impedance of the completecomplete ground-fa
ground-faultult
device. circuit (fault loop impedance).
Impedance of prospective touch voltage.
Residual impedance equal to
Paper ICPSD 97–48, presented at the 1997 Industry Applications Society .
Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, October 5–9, and approved for publi-
cation in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS   by the Power SELV,
SELV, PELV,
PELV, Safety,
Safety, Protecti
Protective,
ve, Function
Functionalal Extra-Low
Extra-Low
Systems Engineering Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. FEL
FELV Volta
oltage
ge,, not
not exc
exceed
eeding
ing the
the upp
upper limitmit of 
Manuscript released for publication March 4, 1998. 50 V ac, supplied from one of the safety
The author is with the Electrical Engineering Department, University of 
Rome “La Sapienza,” 00184 Rome, Italy. sources
sources (a safety
safety isolating
isolating transformer
transformer,, a
Publisher Item Identifier S 0093-9994(98)05189-5. source of current providing an equivalent
0093–9994/98$10.00 �   1998 IEEE
912 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 34, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1998

that results in an electrical connection between the energized

conductor or circuit part and a metal enclosure, or when the
intervening airgap/isolation distance is accidentally bridged.
Unless all metal enclosures have been grounded in an effective
manner, there exists a tendency to raise the enclosure to the
same electrical potential that exists on the power conductor.
The probability of the failure can be evaluated by the insecurity
, where is the security of the electrical equipment.

 B. Does Someone Touch the Conductive Part?

Fig. 1. Direct contact and indirect contact . The effective danger of an indirect contact,
occurring with fixed or portable (mobile) electrical equipment
degree of safety, an electrochemical is related to the probability of someone simultaneously
source). touching the conductive enclosure or the conductive element
IPXXB Degree of protection such that the text that bridges the isolation distance.
finger cannot touch live parts (the degree While not as predictable as the direct contact, indirect
of protection against contact with live parts contact must be prevented, too.
is indicated by the designation IPXXY, In the case of portable (mobile) electrical equipment, for
where XX is two numbers in relation to the which , it is suitable to prevent the appearance of 
ingress of solid foreign bodies and liquid, the electrical potential. In the other case of fixed electrical
respectively, Y is a letter in relation to equipment, for which , it can be sufficient to limit
degree of the possible contact, i.e., IP10B). the persistence of the electrical potential by grounding and
MPDC, MPIC, Measures of protection against an electric automatic disconnection of the supply.
MPBC shock, Preventing by the Direct, Indirect,
and Both Contacts. C. If a Current Can Circulate, What is the Value
of the Touch Voltage?
I. INTRODUCTION: EVALUATION OF Fig. 1 shows an operator which can touch the artificial point
THE ELECTRICAL RISK “ ” of a live part in normal service (direct contact) or the
point “ ” of an exposed conductive part of a piece of electrical
A N ELECTRICAL contact, whether directly with live
parts in normal service or indirectly with exposed con-
ductive parts of electrical equipment as a result of a fault
equipment during a fault (indirect contact).
Following a contact, a fault current flows.
in the basic insulation, could cause physical injury or other A fault-current path involving the ground or the grounding
harm to persons or domestic animals. The IEC standard 364- system is exclusively considered in this paper.
4-41 [1] prescribes technical design methods that provide For a given current path through the human body, the danger
protection against electric shock (Table I). A criterion for to persons depends mainly on the magnitude and duration of 
selecting appropriate measures to achieve the objective of a the current flow ( in Figs. 2 and 3).
sufficient level of protection against electric shock can be Figs. 2 and 3 show, respectively, the two cases of a solidly
determined by evaluation of actual risk of   grounded system or an ungrounded system. In the case of Fig.
electric contact. The actual risk in any time depends on the 3, the leakage current can be negligible and not dangerous.
following: The touch voltage is defined as the product
1) probability that a conductive part is live; of current through the body and the total operator impedance
2) probability that someone touches it and related (the sum of the total body impedance and of the
to the actual value of the touch voltage: footing impedance). The relationship between current and
voltage is not linear, because the impedance of the human
body varies with the touch voltage.
(1) The impedance from one hand to both feet is 75% of 
the impedance from hand to hand , while the impedance
where the parameters and will be introduced from hands to both feet is 50% [5]. For different
in the following. current paths, currents with the same magnitude give different
dangers of ventricular fibrillation. The effect of current (e.g.,
 A. Is the Conductive Part Live? 16 mA) which passes through one of the following paths:—left
It is quite obvious that direct contact, which is by definition hand to left foot or right foot or feet;—both hands to feet,
an actual contact with parts that are live in normal service, can be assumed as reference . The body current
must be prevented to avoid injury or damage, if the value of  (e.g., 40 mA), passing through the path left hand to right
touch voltage is not very low. hand has a reduced effect, as the 40% of the reference
Indirect contact can accidentally occur when a failure of the mA and (e.g., 20 mA), through
basic insulation develops along a conductor or in a circuit part the path right hand to left foot or right foot or feet, as
PARISE: A SUMMARY OF THE IEC PROTECTION AGAINST ELECTRIC SHOCK 913

TABLE I
IEC PROTECTION MEASURES
914 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 34, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1998

Fig. 2. Solidly grounded system: fault current path during a direct or indirect contact (operator impedance ).

Fig. 3. Ungrounded system: includes the capacitive fault impedance of the system.

TABLE II
PARAMETERS AND VALUES FOR SAFETY CONDITIONS

the 80% mA [5]. In practice, for maximum admissible time are reported and, in column 3,
designing protection against an electric shock, the necessary the corresponding admissible limit values of touch voltage
criterion is the admissible limit of touch voltage as . Table 41-A of [2] gives the values reported in
a function of time. In Table II, column 1, the values of the column 2. Reference [1] does not give values.
PARISE: A SUMMARY OF THE IEC PROTECTION AGAINST ELECTRIC SHOCK 915

(a)

(b)
Fig. 4. (a) General scheme for protection by automatic supply disconnection: fault-current path during a fault. (b) General scheme:   evaluation.

Reference [4] defines the conventional voltage limit , that 3) Touching the live parts is prevented (in normal service
is, the admissible limit value of the touch voltage persisting or by fault) .
for a time that exceeds or is equal to 5 s. In normal conditions, 4) A current cannot circulate or, on the contrary, a sufficient
is assumed equal to 50 V ac rms or 120 V ripple-free dc. current is promoted to flow for a fast disconnection
Lower values may be required in special conditions. of supply (Figs. 2 and 3 show, respectively, the two
The probability of the part of the power system under cases of a solidly grounded system and an ungrounded
consideration to perform the condition means a system. In the case of Fig. 3, the leakage current can be
touch voltage does not exceed the values for the time in negligible and not dangerous. Fig. 4(a) shows a general
which the conductive part remains live (any ) or the failure simple scheme in which the system and the exposed
persists (generally coincident with disconnecting time of  conductive parts are grounded. The equipment ground-
protective device). It is evaluated by the unit step ing allows elimination of the fault by disconnecting the
protective device in time. So, the probability of an
electrical contact for the first operator who will touch
the equipment after the fault [Fig. 4(b)] is only reduced
The function is zero for all negative values of the variable
at the duration time . The IEC standard [1] proposes
and equal to unity for all positive values.
measures for the following:
Obviously, if or is guaranteed less than for any
time or even is always equal to zero ( a) protection against electric shock in normal ser-
intrinsically). vice caused by direct contact;
b) protection in case of fault, caused by indirect
II. THE  ABC’S OF THE  IEC APPROACH: contact;
PROTECTION MEASURES c) protection both in normal service and in case
The aim of the protection measures against electric shock is of fault.
to maintain at the lowest value the risk of contact, containing The Measures of protection against electric shock, Prevent-
at least one of the components parameters or ing by the Direct, Indirect and Both Contacts (MPDC, MPIC,
close to zero value, as far as possible. MPBC) are drawn by the above-mentioned items (Table I).
To introduce the IEC approach on the protection against Item 1) motivates the active measure of protection based
electric shock, it is useful to make the following general on preventing the persistence of the electrical potential by
considerations. It is quite obvious that there is not an actual automatic disconnection of supply (MPIC based on
shock hazard for the operator if the following conditions exist. ) and the passive measure of protection based on double
1) The electrical equipment is not energized insulation or by equivalent insulation (IEC Class II equipment)
or and so , or its exposed conductive preventing the contact (MPIC based on ).
parts cannot be energized . Item 2) motivates the basic measure of protection based
2) The value of the nominal voltage , or of the voltage to on using SELV, PELV, FELV, low and safe voltage with
ground , or of the touch voltage does not exceed special circuits (MPBC based on intrinsically) and
the conventional voltage limit . the passive measure of protection based on providing main
916 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 34, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1998

Fig. 5. TN-system: fault-current path during a ground fault.

Fig. 6. TT-system: fault-current path during a ground fault.

and local equipotential bonding (MPIC based on

intrinsically).
Item 3) motivates protection by insulation of live parts,
which can only be removed by destruction; protection by
barriers or enclosures providing at least such a degree of 
protection as IPXXB; for the cases to prevent unintentional
contact with live parts, protection by obstacles and protection
by placing out of reach [simultaneously accessible parts at
different potentials must not be within arm’s reach (MPDC
based on )].
Item 4) motivates the definition of types of system ground-
ing (MPIC based on ). The system groundings
are classified as TN-system, TT-system, and IT-system. The
first letter, T or I, represents a system solidly grounded
Fig. 7. Maximum prospective touch voltage duration curves according
or ungrounded, respectively, and the second letter, N or T, to columns 2 and 3 of Table II.
represents the connection of the exposed conductive parts to
the same grounded point of the supplying power system (Fig.
5) or to an independent ground electrode (Fig. 6), respectively. Item 4) also motivates an additional measure of protection
The TN-system and TT-system are realized to promote against direct contact (MPDC based on ), which
the circulation of ground-fault current and to favor automatic is allowed by residual current devices. The use of residual
disconnection of supply, such that a touch voltage cannot current devices, with rated operating residual current
be maintained at any point of the installation in excess of the not exceeding 30 mA, is recognized as additional protection
voltages and in times stated in Table II. against electric shock, in normal service, in the case of 
On the contrary, the IT-system is realized to limit and to failure of other protective measures or negligence by users
control the circulation of the leakage current. Finally, the ( for which ). The use of such devices
protection by electrical separation is realized to prevent the is not recognized as a sole means of protection and does
same circulation (protection by electrical separation of an not obviate the need to apply one of the previous protective
individual circuit supplied through a separation source, i.e., measures: the value of the actual current that flows through
an isolating transformer). the body cannot be limited.
PARISE: A SUMMARY OF THE IEC PROTECTION AGAINST ELECTRIC SHOCK 917

Fig. 8. General scheme: fault current path during a ground fault. Local equipotential bonding.

III. TYPES OF SYSTEM GROUNDING in a power system supplied by a utility transformer, only the
TT-system can be realized. Figs. 5 and 6 show the TN- and
TT-systems.
 A. Generality The impedance of the complete ground-fault circuit
To realize the grounding of exposed conductive parts in each should be low enough to ensure sufficient flow of ground-
building, the performance of the grounding arrangements must fault current, for fast operation of the proper circuit protective
satisfy the safety and functional requirements of the electrical devices, and to minimize the potential for stray ground currents
installation. on solidly grounded systems, as described in [3]. To contribute
The selection and erection of the equipment of the ground- to a ground-fault current path of low impedance, the grounding
ing arrangements and of the protective ground-fault conductors conductor must be run adjacent to the power cables
( ) must be such that the following exist. with which it is associated, i.e., inside the same conduit or
• The grounding resistance is in accordance with the pro- the same raceway. In the TT-system, ground-fault current is
tective and functional requirements of the installation and normally determined by the electrodes resistances ,
is expected to be continuously effective. considering that, by comparison with these resistances, the
• Ground-fault currents and ground-leakage currents can other impedances of ground-fault circuit (as are,
be carried without danger, particularly from thermal, in general, negligible . The impedance of  
thermomechanical, and electromechanical stresses. prospective touch voltage is equal to
• They are adequately robust or have additional mechan- (in the IEC publication, includes also the value of ).
ical protection appropriate to the assessed conditions of  In the TN-system, the impedance of prospective touch
external influence. voltage is equal to . The ground-fault currents have,
Simultaneously accessible exposed conductive parts must in general, higher values than in the TT-system, considering
be connected to the same means of grounding. that the electrode resistance is out of the ground-fault
A main equipotential bonding system must interconnect the circuit .
following conductive parts: 1) main protective conductor; and So, in the TN-system, the use of the overcurrent protective
2) main ground-continuity conductor (main water or gas pipes, devices can be sufficient, whereas, in the TT-system, the use
risers of central heating and air-conditioning systems). of residual-current protective devices can be necessary.
The additional interconnection of metallic parts of the
building structure and other metal pipework is recommended.  B. TN-Systems (Figs. 5 and 10)
In some cases, it can be useful or necessary to provide local The TN-system is, in general, the case of a building plant
bonding (reduction of , Fig. 8). This supplementary equipo- supplied by its own transformer substation.
tential bonding must include all simultaneously accessible All exposed conductive parts must be connected to the
exposed conductive parts of fixed equipment and extrane- grounded point of the power system by protective conductors
ous conductive parts, including, where possible, the main ( ). Generally the grounded point is the neutral point. The
metallic reinforcement of constructional reinforced concrete. protective conductors must be grounded near each power
The equipotential system must be connected to the protective transformer or generator of the installation.
conductors of all equipment, including those of socket outlets. In addition to providing the proper equipment grounding
The exposed conductive parts of electrical equipment must in such a substation, step and touch potentials also must be
be connected to the protective conductor under specified maintained at a safe level.
conditions for each type of system grounding. “TN-S system” is the name given to the most general case
The use of the TN-system or TT-system is conditioned of a TN-system. This presents the neutral and the protective
upon the property of the high/low voltage transformer, i.e., ground-fault conductor as being separated. Besides, the
918 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 34, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1998

TN-C system provides in the same conductor ( ) both 2) the conventional touch voltage limits (Table II,
the function of the neutral and the protective ground-fault column 3) that define the correspondent maximum times
conductor. For this system, protection must be provided by (Table II, column 1) in which can persist (Fig. 7);
overcurrent-operated protective devices; it is not possible to 3) the time–current characteristic curve – of the protec-
use residual protective devices. Finally, the TN-C-S system is tive device.
a combination of these two solutions. Following a fault in a part of the installation supplied by
, the touch voltage cannot be maintained
C. TT-Systems (Figs. 6 and 11) at any point of the installation in excess of the maximum
The TT-system is, in general, the case of a building plant time , admissible for the voltage ([1], clause
supplied by a utility transformer substation. All exposed 413.1.1.1).
conductive parts, collectively protected by the same protective It is necessary to adopt a protective device with an operating
device, must be interconnected by protective ground-fault current ensuring the automatic disconnection within the
conductors with a ground electrode of resistance , common time stated in Table II. These requirements are met if the
to all those parts. Where several protective devices are utilized following conditions are fulfilled:
in series, this requirement applies separately to all the exposed
conductive parts protected by each device. (2)
The neutral point (or, if one does not exist, a phase conduc- (3)
tor) of each generator or transformer must be grounded with
(4)
a proper ground electrode.
(5)
 D. IT-Systems (Fig. 4 with and Fig. 6 with )
[Note that the third term of expression (3) is obtained substi-
IT-systems are isolated from ground or connected to ground
tuting the value of the current (2).]
through a sufficiently high impedance, either at the neutral
That is, if it is known that ,
(star) point of the system, or at an artificial (star) point. The
and V, on the basis of (2) and (3), the values of 
fault current is low in the case of a single fault to an exposed
A and V are determined. In Table II, it is
conductive part or to ground; disconnection is not imperative.
possible to find the admissible time limit s in column
Measures must be taken, however, to avoid danger in the event
1 in correspondence to of column 3 or, in this case
of two faults existing simultaneously.
of intermediate values of voltage, to the next higher value in
No live conductor of the installation must be directly
the column ( V V, or, using the curve of Fig.
connected to ground. To reduce overvoltage or to damp voltage
7, the actual value s in correspondence to
oscillation, it may be necessary to provide grounding through
V). Therefore, at the faulted point of installation, the condition
appropriate impedances or artificial neutral points. Exposed
(5) must be fulfilled, adopting a protection device with an
conductive parts must be grounded individually, in groups or
operating current A, and ensuring the automatic
collectively.
disconnection within the time s. It is clear that this
protective measure necessitates coordination of the following:
IV. PROTECTION BY  A UTOMATIC SUPPLY DISCONNECTION
1) characteristics of protective devices;
 A. General Conditions of Safety 2) type of system grounding (TN-system, TT-system, or
IT-system).
The protection by automatic disconnection of supply pro-
In the TN-systems and TT-systems, use of the following
vides that the exposed conductive parts of electrical equipment
protective devices is recognized:
must be connected to ground.
A general scheme is shown in Fig. 4(a). The component 1) overcurrent protective devices;
elements to consider are the following: 1) the faulting electrical 2) residual-current protective devices, useful to protect the
equipment and the supplying part of the power system; 2) cases with the lowest values of current, such as, in
the operator; and 3) the protective device. The two measures particular, the arcing fault or the fault current since the
“grounding with disconnection of supply,” after the occurrence beginning evolution.
of a fault, are respectively intended to immediately “sound the The following must be considered.
alarm” and to prevent touch voltage from persisting for such • Overcurrent protective devices with an inverse time char-
time that a danger could arise [Fig. 4(b)]. acteristic are characterized by a long disconnecting time,
Consequently, the design parameters that characterize this which, in any case, must fulfill .
protection measure at any point of the installation are as • Overcurrent protective devices with an instantaneous trip-
follows: ping characteristic or residual-current protective devices
1) the fault current and the touch voltage are characterized by a short disconnecting time , which
(since is generally can guarantee high values of until .
fixed, depends on the fault loop impedance and In general, at each point of installation where the conditions
depends on the ratio , where is the impedance (4) and (5) cannot be fulfilled or are very difficult to be
of prospective touch voltage); realized, the following should be noted.
PARISE: A SUMMARY OF THE IEC PROTECTION AGAINST ELECTRIC SHOCK 921

Fig. 11. Grounding arrangement for ground-fault protection in TT-system, three-phase, four-wire circuits. Fault-current path through ground-fault
conductors and earth.

• Realize supplementary equipotential bonding.

Important considerations are the following.
• In the TT-system (Fig. 5), , where is the
effective ground-fault current, is the ground-potential rise
of the ground electrode; the impedance is generally
very low in comparison to .
• In the TN-system, is the touch potential.
It is also possible to see the following.
• For TN-systems, it is very important to have supplemen-
tary equipotential bonding for reducing the touch potential
from the value at the value, as shown
in Fig. 10 for the operator.
• For the TT-system, it can be sufficient to have a good
main equipotential bonding system for reducing the ef-
Fig. 12. variable: case of correct protection coordination. fective touch potential. This reduction of to
is not considered in Fig. 11 for the operator, exposed to
.
3) IT-Systems ([1, Clause 413.1.5])   According to  Rule 2,
the following condition must be fulfilled:

(11)

If an insulation monitoring device is provided to indicate

the occurrence of a first fault from a live part to exposed
conductive parts or to ground, this device must release an
audible and/or visual signal, or automatically disconnect the
supply.
It is recommended that a first fault be eliminated with the
shortest practical delay.
Conditions for disconnection of supply in the event of a
second fault as specified for TT-systems and TN-systems must
apply, depending on whether all exposed conductive parts are
interconnected by a protective conductor (individually or in
Fig. 13. variable: case of bad protection coordination.
groups for TT-systems, collectively for TN-systems).
In the case of TN-systems (see [1]): — if the neutral
Solutions to the handicap of not following the conventional conductor is not distributed, the relation shown by (6 ) is
approach can be the following. applied considering: — in place of , — the
• Adopt a residual-current protective device, which can loop impedance of the line conductor and of the equal to
make the above-mentioned protection coordination easier. and — for the values correspondent in the same row
922 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 34, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1998

to in Table II, column 1: REFERENCES

(6 ) [1]   Electrical Installations of Buildings, pt. 4, “Protection for safety,” ch.

41, “Protection against electric shock,” IEC Pub. 364-4-41, amendment
1, 1996.
If the neutral conductor is distributed, the relation shown by [2]   Electrical Installations of Buildings, pt. 4, “Protection for safety,” ch.
(6 ) is applied considering: — in place of — as 41, “Protection against electric shock,” IEC Pub. 364-4-41, 2nd ed.,
1982.
the loop impedance of the neutral conductor and of the [3]  Recommended Practice for Electric Power Distribution for Industrial
and — for the values correspondent in the upper row to Plants, ANSI/IEEE Std. 141-1993, ch. 7.
in Table II, column 1: [4] Electrical Installations of Buildings, pt. 2, “Definitions,” ch. 21, “Guide
to general terms,” IEC Pub. 364-2-21, 1993.
[5]   Effects of Currents on Human Beings and Livestock , pt. 1, “General
(6 ) aspects,” IEC Pub. 479-1, 1994.
[6] “Measures against indirect contact by automatic disconnection of sup-
. If such safety conditions cannot be fulfilled, it is neces- ply,” International Electrotechnical Commission, Geneva, Switzerland,
Tech. Rep., type 3, 1st ed., 1996-03, no. 1200-413, 1996.
sary to provide a local bonding (supplementary equipotential
bonding).
In IT-systems, use of the following protective devices is
recognized: 1) insulation monitoring devices; 2) overcurrent Giuseppe Parise  (M’82) was born in Luzzi, Italy,
protective devices; and 3) residual-current protective devices. in 1947. He received the Degree in electrotechnical
engineering from the University of Rome, Rome,
Italy, in 1972.
From 1973 to 1979, he was Researcher and As-
V. CONCLUSION sistant Professor, University of Rome, and, in 1980,
If the conventional approach is adopted according to [1], he was appointed Associated Professor of Electrical
Power Systems. His research, design, and consultant
a criterion to avoid or mitigate the injury or damage of  activities cover the areas of design, planning, safety,
an indirect contact occurring with electrical equipment is as security, and energy management of power systems.
follows. In the case of portable (mobile) electrical equipment, Since 1983, he has been a Member of the Superior
Council of the Ministry of Public Works, as an expert in power systems.
it is necessary to prevent the appearance of the electrical He is member of the Italian Electrotechnical Commission (CEI) CT/SC
potential, whereas, in the case of fixed electrical equipment, 11A, “Generation, Transmission and Distribution Systems of Electric Power,”
it can be sufficient to limit the persistence of the electrical and President of the Electrical Commission of the Engineers Association of 
Rome’s Province.
potential by grounding and automatic disconnection of the Mr. Parise is a member of the IEEE Industry Applications Society Power
supply. Systems Grounding Subcommittee.