Electrical Safety – Importance of PPE & Control Measures

Working with electricity carries a number of risks. That is why it is critical to take the required precautions, such as wearing the appropriate Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and adhering to safe work procedures. In this blog post, we will go over what PPE you should wear when working with electricity, as well as some safe work practises. Keep yourself safe out there!

When working with electricity, it is critical that you wear the appropriate PPE. Rubber gloves, insulating matting, and face shields are examples of protective equipment. It is also critical to wear garments composed of non-conductive materials. If you come into contact with an electrical current while not adequately shielded, you could be gravely wounded or even killed.

When working with electricity, you need not only wear the required PPE but also observe particular work practises. They include always using properly grounded tools, never working alone, and adhering to any safety recommendations from your employer. Working with electricity might be dangerous if you don’t take the required measures.

Personal Protective Equipment

Workers who work directly with electricity should utilise the personal protection equipment required for their occupations. To lessen the risk of electric shock, this equipment may comprise rubber insulating gloves, line hoses, hoods, sleeves, blankets, matting, and industrial protective helmets. They assist in lowering the possibility of electrical accidents. Typical safe behaviours are as follows:

• Before each day’s use, insulating equipment needs to be checked for damage. The ideal practise is to regularly check all personal protective equipment (PPE), including insulating equipment.
• Equipment that has flaws that impair its insulating characteristics needs to be taken out of use and brought back for testing.
• Except for the hands, feet, head, and face, which may be shielded by additional PPE, the worker’s entire body must typically be covered with arc-rated protective clothing and other protective equipment.

Work Practice Controls

Before using portable equipment, your employer must ensure that extension cables and other flexible leads are visually inspected, maintained, and changed as needed. These leads are particularly prone to causing harm to plugs, sockets, and their connections. Flexible cable ends should always have the outer sheath firmly secured to prevent the wires from coming loose from the terminals.

• Avoid using taped joints for connecting lengths of cables; instead, use the proper cable connectors or couplers.
• Electrical installations are professionally installed, maintained, and examined on a regular basis.
• Use adaptors to check that socket outlets are not overburdened.
• Ensure that the specified electrically powered equipment is fit for usage.
• Fixed electrical equipment needs to have a switch that can be easily found in an emergency.
• Unless the plug is moulded, make sure that any portable device marked as double insulated has had the live and neutral wires attached to the plug correctly by a qualified person.

Conclusion

Given how strong and potentially dangerous electricity is, electrical safety is important. The employment of the right procedures is necessary to protect electricians at work since improper handling of electricity can result in severe damage or death.

Ensure that your staff has received electrical safety training. When handling electricity, employees can make wise judgements thanks to this understanding. Moreover, training shields your company from incident-related expenses.

Training employees is the obligation of the employer. Ensure that your employees are aware of these vital electrical safety advice for industrial work because failure to do so could result in legal action against the company.