Some people know just enough to be dangerous. The excuse sounds like something only an engineer could come up with. Seriously, I know some EE majors in class and they don't know JACK about being safe. I think I'm the only one in class besides the prof that knows what NEC stands for. LOL!
I'm an EE major (I've since graduated as a BSEE). Realize that we get taught mathematical and physics theory. And the idea that something that once functioned can fail is rarely ever mentioned. And thus designing things to fail in a safe condition isn't mentioned. Most of the things EEs would ever work on are inside chips, and the currents are in microamps, and voltage rarely above 5V. Thus the problem you can get when a EE engineer starts to mess with house wiring, if he doesn't really comprehend what the equipment grounding conductor is really for. I knew someone who bought an older house that had two wire romex without the ground, and he replaced the outlets with 3 prongers. He just strapped the neutral to the ground, figuring that would be okay as both are at zero volts. "What if that neutral goes open, then the computer will end up riding on 120VAC on its case?". Something he hadn't thought of.
And of course "NEC" is the name of a Japanese comsumer products company..
