Arc Welding Safety in Wet Locations

Video Transcript

" Hello! My name is Mac. On behalf of expertvillage.com, I would like to continue our discussions on welding safety. When a person is welding in the shielded metal arc welding process, you have to remember that the electrode is live at all times. It is electrically charged. To be safe you need to be dry. If you are sweating profusely and your gloves become wet and you reach out and touch the electrode, you can get a nasty shock off of it. If it is strong enough it can affect your heart. It can really cause a lot of damage to you. You need to be aware of that. Welding in the rain is definitely a no-no, you must not do that. You need to have dry gloves at all times, dry clothing and your boots need to stay dry. When you become wet you become an excellent conductor of electricity. So by all means, cover in your work area, if you are outside and it is going to start rain put up a tarp, put up some kind of covering, keep your gloves dry, etc. You can get a very very hard shock off of the welding machines. Some of the worst shocks come off diesel or gasoline, engine driven D.C., portable welding machines, they can really knock you down. So please be careful."