6 Ways to Prevent Electrical Accidents When Working Alone
Does your job entail you to work with electrical equipment? Then you would understand the importance of practicing electrical safety. When you are working alone, you have to be extra careful so that you don’t find yourself in an electrical emergency. Here are 6 things to follow for electrical safety if you are working alone.
Proper grounding
Grounding an electrical instrument creates a low-resistance path that connects to the earth. This helps in preventing the build-up of voltages that may cause an electrical accident.
Make sure that all equipment is grounded so that you are not at risk of getting an electrical shock. Proper grounding eliminates unwanted voltage and reduces the risk of electrocution.
You can use guarding as a secondary protective measure to further reduce the risk of electrical hazards.
Guard electrical equipment
Guarding electrical equipment means that you locate or enclose them so that people do not accidentally come in direct contact with them.
It is important to guard all the exposed electrical wires or components. Use electrical connectors wherever necessary. They join electrical terminators and create an electrical circuit.
Disconnect machines before you service or repair them.
Use insulators such as mica, glass, plastic or rubber over metals and conductors to reduce the flow of current.
Extension cord safety
Electrical equipment will have cords and wires. Make sure you practice cord safety in the workplace.
Do not plug two extension cords together. Try to minimize the use of extensive cords as much as possible.
Never nail the extensive cords into place. Use electrical tape for the same. Nails will damage the cords, which may lead to shocks and electrical fires.
Do not cover power and extension cords with rugs and mats. This may create tripping hazards or cause issues with the wires.
Do not pull the cords or yank them. Carefully, unplug them from the outlet by gripping the plug.
Do not use equipment with broken cords or plugin anything that has a missing prong.
Inspect all the electrical cords regularly. If you see any signs of cord damage, stop using the equipment immediately and call a professional.
Never operate in wet conditions
Water greatly increases the risk of electrocution. The risk will be greater if the equipment’s insulation is damaged.
Do not keep or use electrical equipment near wet surfaces or in wet locations.
Never operate electrical equipment with wet hands or when the equipment is wet.
Bring in a qualified electrician to inspect electrical equipment if it got wet. Do not energize it before getting it checked.
Circuit protection
Use circuit protection devices as they will limit or stop the current flow automatically in the event of a ground fault, short circuit or overload in the wiring systems. Some circuit protection devices include circuit breakers, fuses, arc-fault circuit interrupters and ground-fault circuit interrupters.
Make sure you do not plug multi-outlets bars to other multi-outlet bars.
Do not overload the sockets. If there are multiple connections, use a power board. Use just one power board per wall outlet.
Notice if the wires are getting heated. There is a high risk of electrical fires when the wires become overheated. Ensure that the wires are suitable for their electrical load.
Do not ignore electrical hazards as they can lead to serious bodily injuries. It is of utmost importance that you take proper precautions when you deal with electrical equipment. Conduct a safety assessment test of the workplace to identify different hazards. Then, create a plan on how to address the hazards so that it does not lead to any serious accident.
Develop a check-in-based safety system
When it comes to implementing a check-in-based safety system for your workers, you’ll need the support of everyone in the workplace. Keeping workers safe should be everyone’s business, and a coordinated effort will ensure that if someone working alone needs help, they’ll be able to receive it. If you or someone in your workplace works alone all or some of the time and you don’t have lone worker safety measures in place, start the conversation by asking yourself and others what needs to be done to make sure that all remote workers can come home safe. SaaS (Software-as-a-Solution) models are becoming best practices for lone worker safety monitoring, and are the ideal successor to more traditional solutions. SaaS also eliminates high upfront capital costs and costs associated with hosting, upgrading or maintenance. Additionally, an effective solution should yield a high return on investment.
Keys to a modern lone worker system include:
Scalability to fit fluctuating or rotating staff.
The ability to work in multiple environments and situations.
Future-proof technology that remains relevant
If you’d like to find out more about how SafetyLine can get you help when you need it the most, call 1-888-WRK-ALNE or contact us HERE.
About the Guest Author:
Jeson Pitt works with the marketing department of D & F Liquidators in Hayward, CA and regularly writes to share his knowledge while enlightening people about electrical products and solving their electrical dilemmas. He's got the industry insights that you can count on along with years of experience in the field. Jeson lives in Hayward, CA and loves to explore different cuisines that the food trucks in the Bay area have to offer.