Electrical Safety Survey Review with Tom Wilk

The usage of electricity in doing the day-to-day tasks in the workplace is a common practice. The safety of the workers and maintaining the electrical equipment is just as important as the maintenance of other systems. There are electrical safety programs in place but still, there are a lot of fatalities in the workplace because of exposure to sensitive electricity-based tools. There are safety manuals in place but there are other reasons that these safety issues occur all the time in the maintenance and reliability industry. This may be due to lack of training or with electrical safety programs not in compliance with the work environment—region, country, and other regulatory compliances.

There are a number of electricians, technicians, engineers, and supervisors who are exposed to systems that use energized particles to operate. The electrical conditions and safety concerns vary depending upon the workplace. A general manual cannot be used for every organization. Therefore, there is a serious need of well planned, written out electrical safety programs. The training should be provided to everyone who comes in contact with energy based system regardless of the job area they are in. There is a serious need for diverse programs who will ensure the safety of every employee working in a facility that uses electrical equipment.

To understand the reasons and to better the safety needs of the employees, a survey was conducted based on a report from CNN which says: “Engineers and conductors had safety concerns, citing rushed and ‘totally inadequate’ training which left them feeling dangerously unprepared for the new route, according to multiple sources, including several directly involved in the training. … Some training runs were performed at night, with as many as six or more crew members stuffed into cars with just three seats, which meant some trainees rode backward, in the dark, the sources said. Engineers felt they did not get enough practice runs at the controls and could not properly see to familiarize themselves with the route.” To learn more on what prompted this survey, check this link.

The sentiments echoed by these participants were reviewed and a large number chose ‘poor training’ as the biggest safety challenge. This response was ranked the second-highest safety concern. The only response ranked higher than this was ‘poor equipment maintenance’ which definitely deserves to be on the top of the list. One-third of respondents also reported that they had not ever received training on NFPA 70E.

There were respondents who echoed their concerns about thermography equipment and electrical equipment being challenged. There might be a few different reasons for that. They might not have been properly trained or they were not trained at all. They sought to get the training from somewhere else because it’s a matter of life and death. Having an electrical safety policy doesn’t always guarantee a safer plant. There should a team of electrical safety experts involved in a well-managed safety program. They should implement the program and train everyone regardless of the job description and improve it with time.

Read on for the survey highlights, and then download the full set of 2018 Electrical Safety survey data at http://plnt.sv/1802-ES. For any questions or suggestions on the survey results, please contact Tom at twilk@putman.net.

You might be interested to check our other episodes with Tom Wilk.

Eruditio Links:

• Eruditio
• HP Reliability
• A Smarter Way of Preventative Maintenance Free eBook
• inspired Blended Learning (iBL®)
• James Kovacevic’s LinkedIn

Tom Wilk Links:

• Plant Services
• Article: Is your plant a safe plant? Results of the 2018 Plant Services electrical safety survey: Part 1, Part 2
• Plant Services Events Calendar
• Conferences To Attend/Speaking Engagement: 26th Annual SMRP Conference, IMVAC USA 2018 (Session: 2018 PDM Survey Presentation)
• Recommended Resources: NFPA 70E®: Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace®, CSA Z462-18 – Workplace Electrical Safety

114 – Electrical Safety Survey Review with Tom WilkJames Kovacevic

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