Yes as Fred said the old left hand in the pocket is a good idea to avoid getting a shock across the heart; it was one of the tricks of the trade I was taught when I was learning in the days of valves.

The other bit of cheap insurance is a neon screwdriver to test before you touch. I have always carried a good quality one in my tool kit and it has saved me several times when I was working on odd pieces of kit in even odder spots around the World. I have non contact testers as well but the neon screwdriver has the final say; if it is 'hot' enough to strike the neon then it is too 'hot' to touch. I have also found dangerously high voltages on phone and data cables at some sites overseas all of which had been installed and tested by 'qualified' contractors.

Relayautomatic!
Yes that's a good point! I can remember years ago when anybody who work with electricity had one permanently in their hand years ago. I guess the modern meter change that , but I think its a good idea to have one for poking about.
Im not sure what voltages you can buy them in apart from 240??
I will look into that and see what voltages are available.
I mean Noen ! Not 1000 volt screwdrivers ...A little neon would be good option for me .
Pete

Edited.
I had a look and all I can find are 250 volt AC !
The do make a pen probe and it hoes upto 1000 Ac.
No metioning of DC voltages in any I have seen yet or AC and DC

I'm not a fan of those neon screwdrivers drivers. I don't trust them.

Pete: Beware of anything claiming to be safe to operate at 1,000 volts.

I agree with the neon screwdrivers. My toolbox has five holes at one end of it for holding electricians screwdrivers, a small and large Phillips and a small and large straight edge. In the middle, the fifth hole is no longer used. It once held a neon screwdriver. They, like any piece of test equipment are not 100% reliable and can give a false positive (understandable considering they operate with very little current flow and are series-connected with a resistor that has a 20% tolerance), although this is very rare, and they can and do fail to light when needed.

As mentioned, the hole that once held a neon screwdriver has been unoccupied for around twenty years and I will never use one again after a bad experience with one, which was probably my own fault but none-the-less, these devices are completely un-necessary. Anything that cannot be tested with a set of test lamps or a multimeter probably isn't worth testing.

One good practice, which I am a regular with, is ensuring that lamps and meters operate correctly on a second power source before isolated cabling or equipment is handled. Another way is to use the off-on-off method to ensure that lamps and meters going out is due to a correct isolation and not failure of the lamps or meter.

Hmm Thanks G! ..... I would imagine many tools claiming 1000 volt range are not up to it!
Mostly I prefer taking the newbies safe way out and I use covered Alligator clips! Then power up,But of course its slow and often there is a need to do it when powered up and running so my other hand stays in my pocket in that case,, As time goes on I will get better at it.

Pete: you can take steps to minimise the danger and effect of electric shock, such as always using a circuit protected by an RCD, using an isolation transformer with any live chassis, using a wooden bench, standing on a rubber mat at the bench, etc. However, complacency can be a killer. Years ago I recall seeing this written by someone in felt pen in a switch room: "One flash and you're ash". It's good to remember.

Hello G,
Im carful but I'm not worried about it.
I use a wooden bench I have put in the kitchen now,
And just a thick rubber mat! All good.

But I had a friend who was working on a 1960s juke box and it bit him, he was ok ,but it gave him a heart attack at 34.
He does not repair things anymore. I cant remember all the details but I think it was a USA juke box vaguely

One flash and you're ash is the electrician's motto.

I was outside a room where it happened once too. A technician installing a power factor correction unit blew himself up by prising a three phase fuse block with a medium sized screwdriver. When the supply to the unit is fed with 240mm² cables there is no issue with even a small screwdriver vapourising and setting off the ultimate chain reaction.

A silhouette of copper blobs was deposited on the adjacent switchboard showing his outline and he spent the final three weeks of his life in the burns unit at Concord Hospital. Unfortunately there is no escape when mistakes like that are made and I think of that accident each time I need to open up a switchboard in my job. That accident could have been avoided - the technician was not a licenced electrician and his job was to merely programme/commission the unit and have it prepared for an electrician to connect the main part of it (the portion that contains the bank of condensers) to the supply.

What about one these ??

I also have a RCD home type in the box out the front, I think it is called a 2 post ? Not the normal breaker...

https://www.clipsal.com/Trade/Products/Electrical-Accessories/Safety-Protection/RCD-Protected-Portable-Accessories#.XHkSjOw7a9c

Two pole. That just means that the breaker is two poles wide.

Orange boxes, as those powerboards are known are ideal for when there is no other RCD protection available. If you already have an RCD on your power circuit in the meter box there's no need for the orange box.

Brad, so the one in the box would normally cover all outlets?
Its completely separate from the breaker box , it blue and white with 2 flip ups on it ,, surge protection RCD

Yep, the RCD on the side should protect all outlets on it.

Good! Thank you

The worst belt I ever copped was from a Blaupunkt colour set in the 70's.
It was in a customers home in a multi storey block of council flats before the days of RCD's.
I knew it was a live chassis set but was very familiar with the model and complacency had set in somewhat.
Rather than trek back to the van and get the isolation transformer I just though "I'll be careful"
I had the chassis slid back and the set powered up.
I had the antenna Belling Lee lead in one hand and I reached across to pull the set closer to where I wanted it.
Trouble was I grabbed the chassis with my other hand and copped the full brunt right across my chest.
It knocked me rotten and had me curled up into a ball for a good 5 minutes or so before I could regain my composure.
Luckily the lady of the house was in another room and didn't see my stupidity. A lesson well learned.

copped the full brunt right across my chest

I think we only ever get one of those in our lives. Whether we survive it or not is up to the roll of the dice.