I stand corrected.  I understood the resistor that is in-line in a
grounding strap to be a fuseable resistor - designed to open in high
current.

Jean provided a very good explanation.

Joan Rapier
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That  <wrist strap> cord has a built-in resistor in it so that you, when
you wear it
properly, are connected to ground through a large (1 megohm or more)
resistance to limit any fault current through your body to a few
microamperes (I think 25 miliamperes can cause the heart to defillibrate
and 50 milliamperes can stop the heart).  If you use a wrist strap cord
as a grounding device, the unit is NOT directly connected to ground and
if a fault current exists in it, when you touch the circuit, your body
(approximately 10,000 ohms impedance) will become the path of least
resistance and . . . well, you can guess the rest of the story.

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