The HV supply is a long skinny thing, with the HV output on one end and all the low voltage analog controls on the other. It's made by Ultravolt but I can't remember the part number, it's 30W 30kV. The A series I think. It's got +24VIN power, ground, current monitor output (0-5V for 0-1ma), +5V reference, programmable Vset pin (0-5V for 0-30kV) and a GND reference pin. It's meant to be controlled (voltage setpoint) by either a simple trimpot from the GND and 5V reference, or from a 0-5V DAC from a microcontroller. My job was to take the output of the current monitor pin and adjust the voltage programming pin to maintain a preset constant current through the load they will be attaching to this. When current falls it should increase voltage to compensate, or when current rises it would decrease voltage to compensate. The load can change very quickly so this is a 'fast' system. I had six 10KV 10Mohm resistors hooked up to the output as a dummy load on the far side of the HV enclosure this was in. Design had to be analog because this is in an insanely noisy environment (arc discharge nearby in the rxn chamber) and we've had lots of problems with microcontrollers resetting.
Anyway, the REAL problem is that no one at this company knows what they are doing with high voltage, and they are putting safety measures in place they think are adequate which apparently ARE NOT, and *I* have no business doing this kind of work. I was hired for microcontroller and electronics skills, and somehow they think because I know PID control systems that I can just apply it to a 30kV supply if they put a box around it.
Associated equipment was an isolated Fluke scopemeter, a 40kV 1000:1 HV probe and a 10:1 LV probe for the analog side (I've got test points everywhere so I could tune the loop and just clip on the test point and keep my hands away most of the time). This incident happened while I was adjusting a trimpot probably a foot or more away from any non-insulated wiring (basically only the resistor dummy load).
Apologies for the profanity earlier, I was quite angry in the immediate aftermath (still am) but I have cooled off a little. Fortunately I just interviewed with another company that has people who know what they're doing and doesn't work with anything over line voltage and who will probably give me a decent salary increase should I get an offer. I was going to stick around out of loyalty to my boss plus the fact he got me an early promotion to Engineer II (2-3 years at my company to get, I get it at 15 months when promotions are done in January). Should I get an offer I'm not sure I'll stick around for that.
Til then I am just telling my bosses I don't touch anything over 120. At least that won't jump out and get you.
ETA: I live near Houston, TX. And it's probably one of the most humid places in the state.