Understanding Electrical Safety in Today’s Changing Landscape

Being able to identify electrical hazards and having tools, safety procedures and instructions available to mitigate risk is essential to ensuring safety.

It’s important to have a workforce that understands how keeping up with the times is paramount to staying safe in the workplace. Much can said about the importance of creating an electrically-safe workplace, but it is the responsibility of any employer to provide a safe environment, free of hazards to its employees.

In 2015, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) created an accreditation, the “Certified Electrical Safety Worker (CESW)” certification program, which was based on the most current edition of NFPA 70E, the Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace. The program ensures that electricians have the knowledge, training and experience to perform their jobs at the highest, safest level possible. Obviously, one key to safety during times of change is keeping aligned with consensus standards, which the NEC and NFPA updates every three years. Below are changes any plant might encounter and thus has a need to be prepared for.

VeriSafe – Absence of Voltage Tester

Changes in Standards
As safety standards evolve, so too must the company and its workforce. The latest release of the NFPA 70E-2018, includes updates that are essential for the company and its employees to understand. When NFPA 70E released its 2018 update, a new exception was included that allows Absence of Voltage Testers (AVTs) listed to UL 1436 to be used to verify the absence of voltage instead of a handheld voltmeter. Changes to consensus standards can take safety at a facility from good to great.

Changes in the Plant
When business grows, the facility grows. New machines are added, the electrical capacity needs grow, and thus an increased need for overall, plant-wide electrical safety grows. Sometimes, there can be an overcrowding in electrical rooms and production areas with added equipment. Other times, challenges are created when multiple suppliers of equipment create anomalies. While codes and standards evolve, and as equipment is added, there can be these compatibility issues. Standardizing processes and procedures can help minimize or prevent human error. Panduit provides solutions for the electrical infrastructure that can help bridge multiple equipment manufacturers or areas of equipment as additions take place. The VeriSafe Absence of Voltage Tester is compatible across many equipment types and manufacturers, provided the specifications have been met.

Changes in Plant Operations and Performance 
The rise in automation in plants today is proof that the robots are here. The qualified electrical worker meets all of the training requirements set by NFPA 70E and OSHA, and as a general rule, each qualified electrical worker may need several days of training each year to maintain the level of skill. It may be a good idea to plan for that training over a three-year period – which helps to ensure that the qualification process continues to track changing requirements. It’s possible that effective training may be something that is repeated in different formats periodically in order to keep if fresh and top-of-mind. This may toggle between classroom instruction, hands-on skills demonstration and audits.

New equipment brings new types of hazards and risks. Being able to identify these hazards and having tools, safety procedures and instructions available to mitigate risk is essential to ensuring safety. Perhaps even more game-changing than automation is the availability of connectivity and networking on the plant floor. This allows safety procedures to become more connected and integrated into workflow with the ability to track and log tasks, as well as access to video for training and recording purposes.