Abstract: There is disclosed a plasma burner which has contact protection for protecting the operator against impermissibly high voltage and the burner head itself against destruction. The plasma burner comprises a burner shaft, a nozzle and a nozzle cap surrounding the nozzle, with cooling water flowing between them, a cathode disposed coaxially in the nozzle, a fault current protective circuit and a voltage indicator, disposed over the nozzle cap and insulated therefrom by an air gap is an electrically conductive protective cap.