Tips and Tricks for a tidy and safe control box?

Yea, in an environment where I work and GFCI's are non-existent and having to work with live voltage at a very large and broad range, bare terminals and wires suck (and hurt). Safety is a huge priority, especially with 120. 480 will usually pop me off pretty good, but when I'm elbow deep in a panel 120 will make you feel helpless and keep you on it. These situations are rare, but always inevitable when working with live voltage. There are SAFER practices but none that are truly safe. There are many people every day that loose their lives over it, when I get shocked, unlike a lot of people, I don't brag about it because its my fault which in turn is a mistake.

EarthBound said:

I will always unplug my panel if I intend on opening it,

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That's going to be hard to do. If something ever is wrong with your system, you are going to have to figure it out. Opening it and using a multimeter to test thing is probably going to happen.

Oops, I meant to type "...if I intend on opening it and sticking my fingers in there." My bad.

The point that I was trying to make in my last two posts was that I will never touch two live wires because I'm not a klutz, and I will always remember whether the panel is plugged in or not when it's open.

Not like there's anything wrong with being a klutz or forgetting if the panel's plugged in. People make mistakes. For some of those people, it may be a good idea to have some kind of warning system, like a "Plugged In" light.

I learned an old ham radio trick from my dad. If you have to work on the rig with the power on, put one hand in you pants pocket. That way, if you touch a live wire, current will not flow through the heart and it will likely not be fatal. If your'e standing in water though, all bets are off.