title: Occupational exposure to electric fields and currents associated with 110 kV substation tasks.
abstract: The main aim of this study was to investigate occupational exposure to electric fields, and current densities and contact currents associated with tasks at air-insulated 110 kV substations and analyze if the action value of EU Directive 2004/40/EC was exceeded. Four workers volunteered to simulate the following tasks: Task (A) maintenance of an operating device of a disconnector at ground or floor level, Task (B) maintenance of an operating device of a circuit breaker at ground or floor level, Task (C) breaker head maintenance from a man hoist, and Task (D) maintenance of an operating device of a circuit breaker from a service platform. The highest maximum average current density in the neck was 1.8 mA/m(2) (calculated internal electric field 9.0-18.0 mV/m) and the highest contact current was 79.4 µA. All measured values at substations were lower than the limit value (10 mA/m(2)) of the EU Directive 2004/40/EC and the 2010 basic restrictions (0.1 and 0.8 V/m for central nervous system tissues of the head, and all tissues of the head and body, respectively) of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland. leena.korpinen@tut.fi
authors.forename: Leena H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Korpinen
authors.forename: Harri A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Kuisti
authors.forename: Hiroo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tarao
authors.forename: Jarmo A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Elovaara
mesh_terms: D004553:Electric Conductivity / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011211:Electric Power Supplies / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000592:standards; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000592:standards; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000592:standards