Electrical safety standards for electrocardiographic apparatus.

IN 1972, the Committee on Electrocardiography of the American Heart Association (AHA) first published recommendations dealing with electrical safety in electrocardiographic (ECG) and vectorcardiographic (VCG) instruments.' These specifications were restated in slightly altered form in 1975.2 To our knowledge, practically all manufacturers of ECG equipment sold in the United States now follow these recommendations. In the fall of 1976, a panel of representatives from many national organizations, including the AHA, met to resolve differences between electrical safety specifications published by the AHA and by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI).3 The goal was to present to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)* a united position on electrical safety. Despite many subsequent meetings involving members of the panel, only minor differences were resolved. Major disagreements have remained, and earlier this year, over the objection of the AHA, ANSI published an American National Standard Safe Current Limits for Electromedical Apparatus.4 The purpose of this editorial is to describe briefly the differences between the positions of the AHA and ANSI, to explain the significance of the differences, and to state the position of the AHA Committee on Electrocardiography on electrical safety.