Electricity Safe to Touch and Safe Even When Submerged — A System That Automatically Detects and Controls All Electrical Faults

Late last year, three bathhouse users were electrocuted and killed at a public bath in Sejong City. All three were in the tub when they suddenly screamed and collapsed. Just two months earlier, a father in his 60s and his son in his 40s died from electric shock while draining water at a bathhouse in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. Such bathhouse electrocution accidents continue to occur repeatedly.
What is particularly alarming is that the Sejong bathhouse involved in the fatal accident had received a “no issues found” safety inspection result just six months earlier, raising concerns that fundamental improvements are urgently needed.

Bathhouses are environments where even small leakage currents can easily become fatal, as water provides a conductive path. Professor Lee Yong-jae of Kyungmin University (Fire Safety Management) warned, “Electrical facilities in bathhouses—such as pumps and thermometers—are major causes of electric shock. Bathhouses are environments where electrocution can frequently occur, so extreme caution is required.”

 

A Leading Disaster-Safety Company Preventing Electrical Accidents — ITE Co., Ltd.

Providing products free from electric shock, electrical fire, and power-supply interruption

ITE is a disaster-safety pioneer that develops and supplies various technologies capable of predicting, diagnosing, detecting, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from electrical disasters. These solutions are based on New Excellent Technology (NET), aligned with the government’s national disaster-safety policy.

ITE, in cooperation with Jungwoo Relay, developed a solution that enables safe use of electricity even when distribution panels or motors become submerged:
“Leakage Current Limitation and Alarm Technology for Ungrounded Low-Voltage Standalone Electrical Systems During Flooding.”

This technology features leakage-current limitation, electrical-shock prevention, fire prevention, fault-line detection and alarm, automatic shutoff, and stable power-supply capability that prevents outage accidents. Its performance and stability were verified by institutions including:

• Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI)

• Korea Testing Certification (KTC)

• Korea Marine Equipment Research Institute

• Busan Technopark

The solution received the Disaster Safety New Technology Certificate last March and drew major attention from industry professionals at the recent International Electric Power Exhibition.

Amid these recurring accidents, a Korean company has recently gained significant attention for developing an electrical system that prevents electric shock from leakage current—even underwater. The company in focus is ITE Co., Ltd. (CEO Kim In-tae), which we interviewed for an in-depth report.

**A New Technology That Prevents Electric Shock Even in Flooding and During Direct Contact

A System That Automatically Detects and Controls All Types of Electrical Faults**

The core advantage of this solution is its ability to continuously and automatically detect and control all electrical faults, including connection failures that once inevitably caused accidents, fires, electric shock, and equipment damage. Even when live conductors or load equipment are submerged due to deterioration or aging of electrical facilities, or when leakage or ground faults occur, the system detects the leakage current, sends alerts, and maintains normal voltage.

It is widely recognized as the optimal solution for preventing electrical disasters such as electric shock and fire. In the event of direct or indirect contact with flooded or energized components, the system limits leakage current flowing into the ground or the human body to a safe value of 5mA or less, thereby preventing electric shock and power-outage accidents.
According to the Korean Industrial Standard KS C IEC 60479-1, electric shock cannot occur below 5mA, and 1mA is too small for a person to even feel. Therefore, distribution panels equipped with this technology will not cause electric shock even during flooding or by direct hand contact, while still supplying electricity safely to devices.

ITE CEO Kim In-tae stated,
“When current flows through the ground due to ground faults, leakage, or insulation degradation, our system limits and detects the leakage current to 5mA or less to prevent electrical accidents such as electric shock, fire, and power outages. It detects reduced insulation resistance—such as drops to 50kΩ or 100kΩ—based on the preset leakage current level. It also detects phase loss, open circuits, increased resistance, connection failures, or abnormal voltage inflow, and restores normal phase conditions to prevent electrical incidents.
Even when voltage and current become unbalanced, the system automatically corrects them toward a balanced state. If a person directly or indirectly touches a live conductor, the system limits the current flowing through the body to 5mA or less to prevent fatal electric shock. As a result, arcs or shock accidents cannot occur in the first place, and system faults can be detected in advance.”

 

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**IT Earthing System Detects Even 1.8mA Leakage Current Instantly

A Complex Yet Simple Principle**

In the commonly used TN earthing system, the neutral point is grounded to reduce insulation stress on circuits and equipment during ground faults. However, in this system, when a ground fault occurs on another line, a massive leakage current can flow through the ground, potentially leading to serious injury or fatal accidents. Despite this risk, TN systems have been used because there was no other way to detect abnormalities in distribution systems.

The new technology developed by ITE adopts the IT earthing system, in which the entire power supply section is insulated from the ground, or one point is connected to the ground through an impedance. The exposed conductive parts of electrical installations are individually or collectively connected to the system’s protective conductor (PE).

CEO Kim explains:
“We replaced grounding with a resistor, and by controlling this resistance through the Leakage Current Limiting Device (PRLS), we reduce the magnitude of current. According to Ohm’s law (I = V/R), increasing resistance lowers the current. Our system can instantly detect even 1.8mA leakage current, making it possible to immediately identify system faults. With this technology, the risks of electric shock and the need to rely on the TN system—which fails under flooding or severe electrical faults—are eliminated.”

This technology could have prevented disasters such as last year's underground tunnel flooding incident, where rapid river overflow submerged the distribution boards supplying power to drainage pumps. As a result, four pumps capable of draining 12 tons of water per minute stopped working, contributing to 24 casualties. Had the pumps been operational, the large-scale loss of life might have been avoided.

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Applicable Anywhere Electricity Is Used—Eliminating Electric Shock Risks in All Environments

The need for using IT earthing–based distribution systems in high-risk environments is already backed by regulations. According to the Korean Electrical Installation Rules (KEC), underwater lighting in swimming pools and similar environments must be powered through isolation transformers, with specific voltage conditions. Additional guidelines exist for bathhouses, water facilities, and other special locations.

ITE’s solution ensures safe power supply in disaster-prevention facilities, completely eliminating the risk of disaster-related electrical accidents. Beyond such facilities, it can be applied anywhere electricity is used—especially in locations prone to water exposure such as swimming pools, water parks, bathrooms, kitchens, and outdoor environments vulnerable to leakage and ground faults such as streetlights, traffic signals, and billboards.

The solution is also highly effective for environments with high flooding risk or industrial sites like construction areas where electric shock accidents occur frequently.

Currently, the solution is supplied mainly to schools and public facilities through three-party unit-price contracts. It has been applied to Seoul Facilities Corporation’s leakage-controlled streetlight distribution boards and KEPCO Gangwon Headquarters’ non-electric shock continuous power supply system. It has also been implemented in local disaster-risk improvement districts, Saegyo Middle School (Gyeonggi-do), Yangpyeong Student Camp, and Gyeryong Military Experience Center.

 

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**Registered as Patents in Major Countries, Gaining Global Attention

Continuing to Develop Products That Protect Lives and Safety**

Kim In-tae, the developer of this technology, stated:
“Recently, fatal accidents have occurred due to leakage current in underwater motors in bathhouses, and large-scale casualties happened when an underground tunnel was flooded and the drainage pump power shut down. Every year, numerous human and property damages are caused by electrical accidents. To reduce the risks of electrical hazards and protect people's lives and property from social and natural disasters, we developed these products.”

Currently, ITE has registered various leakage-current-limiting technologies as patents in major countries such as the United States, Russia, the EU, China, Japan, and Indonesia, gaining strong domestic and international attention. In China, in particular, interest is extremely high, and preparations are underway for nationwide deployment.

Meanwhile, ITE is also developing an IT power supply system for medical locations.
Kim added:
“At present, medical IT power supply systems rely heavily on foreign products for supply and installation. We are preparing a government procurement product that applies our disaster-safety new technology while improving the weaknesses of overseas systems, ultimately protecting workers’ lives and safety.”

He further stated:
“We will continue working tirelessly so that Korea’s new technology becomes widely recognized around the world and the nation is acknowledged as a global technology leader.”