Electrical High Voltage Safety

The majority of us use electricity every day on the job and this familiarity can create a false sense of security. Let us bear in mind that electricity is always a potential source of danger and it claims lives whenever we are ignorant. The thumb rule is; consider all electrical wires and equipment to be hot/ live until they are tested and proven otherwise. Science has evolved and today we know enough about electricity and its effects on human body. Yet getting injured at work or losing lives due to electricity in today’s industrial world does not speak high about an organization’s attitude towards safety. Electricity is a good servant and a bad master; also well known for its destructive properties like arc, fire and explosion leading to colossal damage.

NIST in this context provides training on electrical safety while working in high voltage environment in terms of:

Hazards of working on or near high voltage installations.

Methods of de-energizing

Hazards and solutions

Use of insulated tools

Protection of area and personnel

Safe work practices.

Approaching the incident

Examining the scene

High voltage rescue and requisite first aid

Learning Outcomes of Electrical High Voltage Safety training

Understand electricity in the workplace.

Understand the associated hazards and risks.

Standards and regulations.

Qualified and unqualified worker.

Effects of electricity on human body.

Appreciate the need to isolate equipment and the techniques of safe isolation.

Understand about the need of safe systems of work, and

Documentation required ensuring that any risk to personnel is minimized.

Who can take the Electrical High Voltage Safety training?

Electricians

Workers using power tools

Engineers working with electrical devices

Employees working near source of high voltage

People involved in the task of extinguishing electrical fire

Employees working with high voltage batteries and vehicle service workers

Support staff working at site

Benefits of Electrical High Voltage Safety training

When you need to keep people safe near electrical hazards, there’s no substitute for training. This training prevents employees from experiencing severe electrical injuries, and saves businesses from the associated liabilities. The modules in this training promotes injury prevention effort like identification of hazard, right way of working on energized equipment, need for adequate safety measures, effective use of PPE, compliance with legislation and so on. In return all these efforts would economically pay off in longer term. Electricity does not discriminate, the more you train employees about the hazards of electricity and how they can be minimized, the safer your facility will be.