The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) released a report early in the year which revealed that approximately 1000 electricians suffer from fatal accidents with at least 25 of them being in critical conditions. Most of these accidents are said to be use of obsolete equipment and contact with underground cables in the case of excavation work not to mention working near overhead power lines. Looking at the above named causes, it is inarguable that these accident could be prevented if only the electricians new more about the health and safety precautions that they should undertake in their line of work. The following read offers detailed information on these health and safety precautions.
Created under the Health and Safety at Work act (1974), the Electricity at Work Regulations (EWAR) were formulated with the main aim of ensuring electricians remain safe regardless of the costs suffered. For instance EWAR dictates that no electrician should work within close proximity of a live conductor. In the case that the electrician has to come within close proximity, then special protective wear should be provided to avoid any injuries.
On the other hand, every electrician should be trained on how to troubleshoot problems. Such problems include cracked casing and faulty cords. In this situation, training records are of most importance and HSE requires user checks which are followed by a formal inspection and a combination of an inspection and a test. The guidelines for this subject are available in the HSE's code of practice for in-service inspection and also the testing of electrical equipment.
Far from the above, its important for electricians to know that testing and fault location should be carried out by professional and competent electricians in a controlled area. On the same note, HSE recommends that circuits are only to be kept live for diagnostic testing. In the case that the circuits must be kept live, low voltages should be used during fault finding.
When it comes to testing, every electrician should formulate an efficient and functional testing timetable to reduce chances of injuries. While it can get almost impossible to come up with a testing timetable that suits all environments, an electrician is required to formulate the testing timetable in relation to the electrical equipment in question.
In the case of portable electrical equipment, especially those that are used in such harsh environments as construction sites, the equipment should be routinely checked and tested to avoid accidents. Keeping in mind how risky construction sites can get, a simple electrical fault can result in untold injuries not mentioning the losses.
Lastly, electricians are advised to use low voltages in harsh environments such as excavation sites and building sites as mentioned above. Detailed information on this particular regulation is provided in the HSE which is easily available online.
From the above information, it is quite clear that the astounding number of electrical accidents that occur annually can be reduced significantly of only the electricians pay more attention to the health and safety precautions set for them by the Health and Safety at Work Act. Hopefully, the above information will shed more light on this rather ignored segment of every electrician's life.