Electrical Safety: Don’t Run The Risk

Complacency kills; it’s a sad fact that the more knowledgeable and experienced your workers are, and the longer you’ve been in business, the higher the potential for accidents to happen, as familiarity with health and safety practice leads to increased risk-taking.

When it comes to electrical safety, there is no room for error. Any failure to follow safety regulations – no matter how small – can have disastrous consequences for individuals and businesses alike.

In April 2018, a Derbyshire company was fined more than £60,000 after two of its employees were seriously injured in an arc flash incident caused by using a screwdriver to try to bypass an interlock on an electrical panel. The court heard they had been given no specific instructions on how to complete their task safely and that the company had no safety procedures or risk assessments in place to cover working with electricity.

The potential consequences of this incident could have been much worse. Arc flash incidents can cause life-altering injuries or even death. What’s more, businesses that admit health and safety breaches can face hefty fines and costly reputational damage.

In order to protect your business and employees, it is vital to put in place proper safety procedures to reduce the risk of incidents occurring, and to engage your employees with the importance of not cutting corners.

Personal protective equipment worn to mitigate arc flash incidents should be:

• Made from thoroughly researched and tested fabrics, threads, stitching methods and fasteners
• As lightweight, comfortable and easy to wear as possible, to encourage workers to adhere to safety protocols
• Worn whenever there is a risk of coming into contact with electrical charges, no matter how small the risk may be.

Complacency kills. Follow this advice and you’ll avoid your business falling victim to the fallout from an arc flash or other serious incident.