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Abraham, if it's a serious long-term or complicated wiring job, I have hired and will hire an electrician.

Installing a light fixture is not rocket science or brain surgery. I've done it many times without electrocuting myself or subsequently setting the house on fire. Also ceiling fans.

- Jim

No. Also forks and the like.

- Jim

I have to state at this point that I did not set out to give a complete education in the electrical profession, which I would not be qualified to do if I tried.

Rings and other metal jewelry on the hands and arms are dangerous. I used to wear my wedding ring on a chain around my neck when working with electricity. I have never worn any other kind of jewelry, but nowadays it seems the younger guys have rings or body piercings left, right, and center.

- Jim

dicion wrote:Wearing rubber soled shoes/boots helps, but not when you're holding a well-grounded frame with your left hand, and accidentally bump live 120VAC with your right!

This is the key. When I was learning to deal with deadly voltages, they taught us to keep one hand in a pocket.

You might survive 120 V. With higher voltages, you're either a crispy critter or "the late."

- Jim

I did some electrical work in my late mother-in-law's house, which was probably 80 years old at the time. I pulled the fuse (breakers hadn't been invented yet) that cut power to the light. When I put the screwdriver to the fixture, I got that indescribable sensation of ZAP.

The circuits were cross-wired, so that the neutral was actually hot even when the fuse was pulled.

Electricians wear rubber-soled shoes and touch things with only one hand because of this kind of hazard. The worst thing you can do with electricity is have a circuit across your chest.

- Jim

You're on the right track. Be sure to turn off the circuit breaker. This seems too obvious to say, but people forget to do it rather often.

If you go to Home Depot, Lowe's, or a similar store, they sell books with illustrations of how to do wiring.

Black is hot, white is neutral, green is ground. Most electrical fixtures make it pretty clear which screw should go with which wire. Some have black, white, and green leads that you hook up to the wiring.

- Jim