Always Use PPE 

By on

A lot of our members work in countries where PPE (personal protective equipment) is regulated or they work for companies/organizations which take employee safety seriously.  Unfortunately, there are places/companies where little or not thought is given to safety and daily peoples lives are put at risk.  If you are working on live circuits then you should always use PPE.

If you are subject to regulations (country or company) you should follow these.  If you work where there are not regulations or they are inadequate you need to look after your own safety.  When working on live circuits you should be using the following:

  • Insulated tools which are rated for the category of work being carried out
  • Safety glasses (or a face shield with safety glasses)
  • Flame resistance clothing or overalls
  • Insulating gloves
  • Safety shoes with electrically insulating soles (stand on insulating mats if available)
  • Remove lose articles (watches, jewelry, etc.)

The person primarily responsible for your safety is yourself.  If anything happens to you it affect you and your family far more than anyone else.  Always use PPE at all times when working on live equipment.

Note: the recommendations are relevant for light electrical work.  If a risk assessment identifies a significant 'Arc Flash' risk, then full flash protective gear should be worn. On higher voltages or special installations, additional PPE may be required.



Steven McFadyen's avatar Steven McFadyen

Steven has over twenty five years experience working on some of the largest construction projects. He has a deep technical understanding of electrical engineering and is keen to share this knowledge. About the author

myElectrical Engineering

comments powered by Disqus

  1. Anaheim Electrical Power's avatar Anaheim Electrical Power says:
    2/3/2012 11:08 PM

    Great info. Thanks for sharing these recommendations. It really helps! Always secure safety when performing electrical works.


Comments are closed for this post:
  • have a question or need help, please use our Questions Section
  • spotted an error or have additional info that you think should be in this post, feel free to Contact Us



Frame Leakage Protection

While not as popular as it once was, frame leakage protection does still have some use in some circumstances.  In essence frame leakage is an earth fault...

The ac resistance of conductors

In a previous article I looked at the dc resistance of conductors and in this article we turn our attention to ac resistance. If you have not read the...

IEC 61439 Verification Methods

The (relatively new) switchgear and control gear standard, IEC 61439 'Low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies' has three methods which can be...

Alternating Current Circuits

Alternating current (a.c.) is the backbone of modern electrical power distribution. In this article I’ll be pulling some of the more important concepts...

Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is the study of coordinating electromagnetic fields give off equipment, with the withstand (compatibility) of other...

Batteries

A battery consists of one or more cells, each of which use stored chemical energy to produce electrical energy, There are many types of cells and these...

Understanding LV Circuit Breaker Fault Ratings

I think this post is going to be helpful to several of our readers. While the IEC low voltage circuit breaker Standard [IEC 60947-2, Low voltage switchgear...

EU Code of Conduct on Data Centres - Best Practices

The European Union is implementing a voluntary code of practice for participants with the aim of improving the overall efficiency of data centres. As part...

How Electrical Circuits Work

If you have no idea how electrical circuits work, or what people mean then they talk about volts and amps, hopefully I can shed a bit light.  I’m intending...

Restricted Earth Fault Protection

The windings of many medium and small sized transformers are protected by restricted earth fault (REF) systems. The illustration shows the principal of...

Have some knowledge to share

If you have some expert knowledge or experience, why not consider sharing this with our community.  

By writing an electrical note, you will be educating our users and at the same time promoting your expertise within the engineering community.

To get started and understand our policy, you can read our How to Write an Electrical Note