Electrical Safety

Electricity is something most of us take for granted and that we think is completely safe. While this is the case, it’s also something that can be deadly if you’re not careful. At home, you know to keep your fingers out of the sockets and to turn off your hairdryer before you get into the bathtub, but when you’re dealing with a larger flow of electricity, you might want to keep other electrical safety rules in mind. When you have more of a shock to get, you will want to make sure that you are ready to handle it and to protect yourself.

Basics Safety Rules to Follow

When you’re ready to start thinking about electrical safety, you might want follow the CDC’s recommendations (from a public domain document):

• Comply with OSHA regulations.
• Develop and implement a hazardous energy control program.
• Identify and label all hazardous energy sources.
• De-energize, isolate, block, and/or dissipate all forms of hazardous energy before work begins.
• Establish lockout/tagout programs that: require workers to secure energy control devices with their own individually assigned locks and keys—only one key for each lock the worker controls; require that each lock used to secure an energy control device be clearly labeled with durable tags to identify the worker assigned to the lock; make sure that the worker who installs a lock is the one who removes it after all work has been completed; and if work is not completed when the shift changes, workers arriving on shift should apply their locks before departing workers remove their locks.
• Verify by test and/or observation that all energy sources are de-energized before work begins.
• Inspect repair work before reactivating the equipment.
• Make sure that all workers are clear of danger points before re-energizing the system.
• Train ALL workers in the basic concepts of hazardous energy control.
• Include a hazardous energy control program with any confined-space entry program.
• Encourage manufacturers to design machines and systems that make it easy to control hazardous energy.
• Use of master keys should be reserved for unusual circumstances when the worker is absent from the workplace. However, if master keys are necessary, keep them under supervisory control. List the proper procedures for using them in the written program for controlling hazardous energy.
• These recommendations are described in more detail in the following sections.
• Yes, there are a number of things that you can do to ensure that you are providing the utmost electrical safety to your home and to your workers. While you might not need to follow all of these guidelines in your everyday life, knowing that there are guidelines might be helpful to keep you safe.

If only these guidelines were something that your child could follow too, instead of shoving raisins in to the light sockets and scaring you half to death again. Then again, maybe that little shock they’d get would be the best way to encourage them to think about electrical safety (kidding, kidding).