It’s Electrical Safety Month and the IET is keen to remind the industry of the risks you need to always consider when working with electricity.

How many times have you heard - “If only we had switched it off it wouldn't have happened” or “But we never followed the procedure. It would have taken too long!!!”

All electrical incidents can be upsetting, and every associated injury causes suffering and some with life-changing effects. However, it is so often the case that simple steps could have prevented the incidents.

Many people are exposed to electrical risk and many of them do not have an electrical background or sufficient electrical knowledge to minimise the risk. Those people include, cleaners, equipment operators, maintenance fitters and managers for example. To these categories can be added third parties such as members of the public and school children.

All incidents have costs. To an individual these costs can be greater than a larger penalty to a big organisation. The financial costs can be paid off quickly, but the most telling costs are more often the longer term reputational and emotional costs to all those involved. Some people never recover.

The most common incidents involve low voltage equipment and installations resulting from:

• Poor design – this may be the wrong cable or equipment in a wet, dusty, hot, or otherwise adverse environment, or an overloaded circuit.
• Poor installation – there are many complex installations that have problems, such as damaged cables or equipment, but something as simple as wiring up a plug wrongly can be fatal.
• Poor operational procedures – the most frustrating incidents often result from work where the circuit had not been switched off and securely isolated. This could be because of incorrect identification due to poor labelling, or perhaps because someone thought they did not have to isolate. Many incidents involved flashovers on low voltage equipment or switchgear, where electrically experienced workers used inappropriate procedures or tools adjacent to exposed live conductors or terminals. Workers are also exposed to other risks such as asbestos, working at height, or flammable or corrosive materials.
• Poor maintenance –basic poor work such as taped joints, broken plugs, socket-outlets and switchgear, loose connections, poor earthing, incorrect fusing, damaged or unsupported cables, poor asset records or lack of testing are all signs of poor maintenance that can have serious consequences.

There are significant consequences for any business if there is a serious error or incident. For example, disruption to work with productivity loss and unpredictable effects to business continuity. In addition, costs arise for the business from the injured person, the additional work, and consequential costs for the company, for the community and prevention of further incidents. Ignoring these consequences and hoping they will not happen can be an expensive mistake.

Managers and technical personnel are responsible for managing the risks, the control of the electrical installation and the activities affected by it. The health and safety of an organisation’s workers, contractors, and others potentially at risk must be managed. There should be policies, procedures, and competent people in place for the electrical installation. It is necessary to ensure that persons working at that installation are capable and have their limitations recognised and formally managed.

Often clients and managers lack the competence and confidence to improve their safety management. Safety management must be made accessible to technical and non-technical people so that risks to people and their business are safely reduced. This involves electrical risk awareness for all who are exposed to risks at work.

There are serious effects of an incident on the company, injured person, other workers, families, and members of public, and so on. Directors and managers can be sent to prison, while large fines and costs can adversely affect the organisation together with other consequential costs and psychological damage.

Risk awareness is important in preventing incidents. Workers can be asked to go beyond their limitations of competence if those involved do not understand the risk. There are workers who appear to be unaware of the dangers from electricity, experienced workers who believe that a 230V shock cannot kill you, that you cannot get a shock if there is an RCD, that you cannot get an explosion from a low voltage circuit, or that having no circuit or equipment records does not matter. Managers need to ensure that all workers, whether ‘electrical’ or not, who may be exposed to electrical risk are suitably trained and aware of the dangers.

Workers should have suitable and sufficient procedures and instructions to allow them to complete their tasks safely and not endanger those affected by their work. Rules to control risk are important.

Responsibilities and worker limitations should be clear. There should be adequate information, instruction and supervision and failure to do this could lead to danger.

Business owners and managers should be aware of the risks, responsibilities of their installations and consequences of failure to comply with standards and regulations. They must ensure that there are sufficient resources so that their installations are safely operated and maintained in a safe condition. They should follow good standards of safety, ensuring that bad habits and complacency do not undermine continuing improvements.

Installers have a professional responsibility to ensure that design, operation, and maintenance are carried out to a safe standard. They are often the only electrically competent persons involved on site and work should be undertaken in a safe way for the protection of themselves and others affected. No assumptions can be made that someone else will solve any deficiencies. For example, children, elderly, or vulnerable people may be involved who may not react in an expected way.

If something is not right, it must be made clear to those responsible. The control of the installation can be complex, particularly for modification, refurbishing and handover. From the outset it is essential that the control of the installation is absolutely clear. Only one party can be in control of any part of the installation at any time. If necessary, special procedures to cover the work should be developed with all those responsible for, or involved in, the work. Live working must be justified to comply with the regulations and should be very much the exception. Records are important.

All people who are exposed to electrical risk should be safe. Walking past or ignoring potential danger can have serious consequences. After an incident, prior action could have prevented the feeling of guilt, and all that pain, suffering, and sometimes grief.

This blog was kindly written by Bill Bates and Bill Tubey, the trainers of our ESM course taking place in May and October this year.

For more guidance, the ‘Code of Practice for Electrical Safety Management’ can be purchased via the IET’s website, at https://shop.theiet.org/code-of-practice-for-electrical-safety-management-2nd-edition