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In your home, electricity works the lights, television, toaster and more. It's difficult to imagine what our lives would be like without it.
It is easy to understand how electricity can be our friend. But it can also be the enemy, injuring or even killing us if we do not respect it.
Electricity takes the easiest path to the ground
Electricity is always trying to get to the ground. Like all good travelers,
electricity takes 
shortcuts
whenever it can. If something that conducts electricity gives electricity
an easy path to the ground, electricity will take it!
Electricity can go through you
Water and metal are some of the best conductors for electricity. Because your
body is mostly water, you are a great conductor, too! So if you touch an electric
circuit and the ground at the same time, you will become electricity’s
easiest path. Electricity will flow through you, and you could be seriously
hurt or killed.
You don’t have to be touching the ground directly to conduct electricity.
You could also be touching something that is in contact with the ground, like
a tree or a ladder.
Electricity, water and you
Water is an excellent conductor. You can become electricity’s path to the ground if you are touching water that touches electricity. Electricity will travel through the water and through you to the ground.
Electricity, appliances and you
Appliances have protective insulated cords and coverings to keep you from
contacting the electricity inside. It’s important to use appliances and
cords the way they were designed to be used so you don’t damage the insulation
or contact live electrical parts. If a live wire inside an appliance, toy
or power tool touches the inside of the device and you touch the device, it
would be like touching a bare live wire. You cannot tell from the outside
if there is a problem 
inside,
so you should always act as if there were danger of shock.
The truth about electric shock
You can never tell when contact with electricity will be fatal, but you can be sure it will always hurt. Electric shock can cause muscle spasms, weakness, shallow breathing, rapid pulse, severe burns, unconsciousness, or death. In a shock incident, the path that electric current takes through the body gets very hot. Burns occur all along that path, including the places on the skin where the current enters and leaves the body. It’s not only giant power lines that can kill or injure you if you contact them. You can also be killed by a shock from an appliance or power cord in your home.
The birds and electric workers can touch the lines
but you can't!
Have you ever wondered why the birds that sit on power lines don’t get electric shocks? It’s because the electricity is always looking for a way to get to the ground, but the birds are not touching the ground or anything in contact with the ground.
Never touch a power line with any part of your body
or any object.
If you touched a power line while you were in contact with the ground (or standing on a ladder or roof) electricity would travel through you. And if your kite or balloon got tangled in a power line and you touched the string, electricity could travel down the string and into you on its way to the ground. Both situations would mean a serious shock!
Have you ever wondered why people who work up on power lines don’t get shocked? Utility workers are trained to work with electricity. They wear special insulated boots, hard hats and gloves, and use special insulated tools that help prevent shock. It would be a bad idea to climb a power pole and imitate them—and possibly fatal!
* Source: Culverco.com, LLC.