Physiological effect of the electricity

An indirect contact refers to a person coming into contact with an exposed-conductive-part which is not normally alive, but has become alive accidentally (due to insulation failure or some other cause).

The fault current raise the exposed-conductive-part to a voltage liable to be hazardous which could be at the origin of a touch current through a person coming into contact with this exposed-conductive-part see. IEC 61140 standard has renamed “protection against indirect contact” with the term “fault protection”. The former name is at least kept for information.