You can even get a 480V shock if you short yourself across two wall sockets wired to alternate phases (+240V, -240V).
I'm unaware of any country doing 180° 2-phase 2*240V. It's 120° 3-phase, 380~400V delta.
That's not how Science / Engineering works. Just because you (one person) have survived various misadventures with 240v (so far) doesn't mean its safe by any means.
The point is 240v at Household amps / current CAN kill you.
It just hasn't YET
Deaths from electrocution are low in the US at 110V, but not massively higher at 230V; some 230V countries are lower in fact:
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Age-adjusted-mortality-r...
(Says at bottom 0.63 for US)
Apparently eastern European electrons are more deadly though ;D
(... It's really all about safety culture.)
Also, that male/female split in the linked graph... wow.
That is pretty funny ... It's a wonder that men haven't gone extinct yet.
Also, I don't have a reference, but it's stuck in my head that deaths from electrocution frequently involve falling off a ladder (or other "secondary" causes), rather than dying from cardiac arrest or other direct injury.
Did also casually 'repair'/readjust open TVs and CRTs while running, how else would I see the results?
ZAP!
Also (unknowingly) pissing on electrified fences is an unforgettable experience!
Now THAT'S a real shock !
current
There are exceedingly few homes, especially single-family homes, in the US that do not have split-phase 240V power.
208V (2 legs of 3-phase) power is almost always relegated to condos or apartments and never single-family homes. Even in that case, many 240V appliances function just fine on 208V albeit at a lower maximum power.
Even fewer still, to the level that you don't have a 'home' at that point but, but a small commercial building, have 480V power. Only commercial buildings have 480V, and they basically always will have conversions to usable residential power for using... normal stuff.
People do get it hooked up in garages and similar to run industrial/hobby equipment. ie lathes and stuff along those lines
Also, these days you have many more options than just getting 480V. Running a VFD off 240V to generate 3-phase is much more affordable generally for a used lathe or something. Even getting 480V connected to a house is sometimes impossible, or at very least so expensive it makes no sense.
Doubt it. Pretty sure that'd require a zoning change, but who knows... ;)
No.
It's the amperage that kills. Yes, in reality, 240V circuits are likely to have higher-amperage devices attached. One milliamp at 240V will not kill you.
That's why our defibrillators (I am/was a critical care paramedic) have a set voltage, and if we need to deliver a bigger shock, we turn up the joules for delivery.
If a circuit is formed from a 240 V source, through you, to a low-impedance ground, and to the extent that you can be modeled as a resistive load (quite well), the amperage flowing through you (until the breaker opens, if it does) will be twice the current that would flow through you from a 120 V source in the same situation. Current kills, and 240 V sources provide 2x the current into a load as a 120 V source, if you're the load.