Toller wrote:
TOM - you have scared the Hell out of me!

I have never seen a wire come off the buss, though I expect it can happen; I
have had them fall off breakers and it is not too different.
If it did, 999 times out of 1000 you would simply have a dead circuit if it
were a neutral. If it were a ground, you would probably never know, though
it would be pretty obvious if you ever encountered a situation where you
need a ground.

Even that 1 chance in 1000 probably wouldn't be serious. But of course, it
could be. Since you don't want to gamble with your life, it is important to
follow code.

So, be scared enough to follow code, but not scared enough to lose sleep.

About 3 months ago, being an electrician, I got a call to repair what
electrician's call
a "fire job".....where the Fire Department was called because of an
electrical fire. I talked to several witnesses who said that where the
fault occured in the circuit flames were shooting 20 feet. Even if
that was an exageration it was still shooting some serious flame.
Fortunately it was outside. Must have been a pretty good show since it
was dark when it happened. While fixing the circuit I noticed that the
equipment ground (bare) and the neutral (white) wires were landed under
the same screw on the busbar (as were many others). The neutral wire
was burnt about 12 inches. The connection was loose and corroded and
had a very high resistance. The resulting current during the fault was
under the 20 amp breaker limit, yet large enough to cause some serious
fire damage. So ,Wade, I don't know where you are getting your
numbers, but you are way off. It happens more than you know. All the
more reason to have electrical work done by qualified people.
Something that gets installed by hacks might take 5, 10, even 15 years
to burn.