Enhancing electrical safety without touching a tool

Abstract

When dealing with electrical safety, the most critical points can often be missed. Much focus has been placed on wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) to meet or exceed the hazard level encountered. Worker training has been placed into overdrive resulting in reduced injury severity and greater awareness of individual responsibility where exposed and energized parts and conductors are encountered. PPE is showing up in the workplace at record numbers and manufacturers are responding with innovative and cost-effective technologies. The required PPE has become not only an affordable part of even the smallest of employer's cost of doing business but also comes in varieties, colors, and options, which brings greater worker comfort and acceptance. Worker day-of-use testing, inspecting and utilizing PPE are of major importance. Too often we skip to the conclusion and deal with what is left rather than analyzing the parts and placing a greater importance on safety management instead of simple injury protection. Unfortunately, the electrical construction sector is not as convinced when and where electrical hazard awareness is appropriate and PPE required when conducting tasks such as setup or commissioning on these same systems. The line between de-energized construction and energized verification is not as hard to determine, as it is to enforce. It is in this arena the electrical inspector or inspecting engineer can have a huge effect on ensuring electrical safety without even touching a tool. Those in the inspecting role can have a much greater effectiveness in advancing electrical safety than they may realize. With a good working knowledge of standards such as NFPA 70E and CSA Z462 and understanding of design best practices and the upcoming guide IEEE P1814, Electrical Safety by Design they can set the bar and take electrical safety into arenas previously untouched. This paper will explore the awareness required, the understanding needed, and the potential impact expected by simply expressing expectations.