Plant Managers – Friday Plant Walk – Electrical Safety

“Electrical safety? Are you asking me to go watch my electricians? I don’t think those guys like me.”

No. The work they do is a whole other post. This post is about general electrical safety. The stuff we walk by every day and don’t notice. Is “eye blind” a term? Like “nose blind”?

WARNING – DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING today. If (when) you see a problem, hands off – just look.

Distribution panels

• Is the 3’ area in front of each panel kept clear? It can’t be used for storage. Painting the floor red or taping off a 3’ area in front of the panels helps. A sign on each panel that says, “CAUTION – Area in front of this electrical panel must be kept clear for 36 inches” is a good thing, but your folks have to respect it.  Sign-blindness IS a thing.

Panels and enclosures – these should be closed in normal use

• Are equipment electrical enclosure doors left open? Maybe for cooling fans to keep a drive or overloads from tripping in the summer heat? This is a shock hazard to personnel and allows the equipment in the enclosures to get dirty or dusty, and eventually causes more problems.
• Are there open holes or “unused openings” on your enclosures? Those let in dust and moisture and can present a shock hazard.
• Most enclosures have some type of cooling. Air filters dirty, blocked, or missing?
• Are your folks routinely bypassing door interlocks? If you see a piece of welding rod on top of a panel, well … that tip is about the size of the bypass hole in some door interlock switches.

Wet locations – water and electricity do not mix

• Your electrical panels in wet areas should be the right type (NEMA 4 or 4X) and they should be CLOSED.
• If you have standing water on a regular basis, why? Is it an inherent part of your process, or is there a problem that could be addressed but it’s just become accepted? Water-blind?

Electrical Disconnects

• Are your disconnects marked? Is the screenchanger HPU disconnect labeled SCREENCHANGER HPU?
• Is the disconnect in line of sight to the piece of equipment it services? It should be.
• Do they accept locking devices?

Errors here are more common than you’d expect. I’ve seen 3 blowers serviced by 3 disconnects, labeled BLOWER A’, “B”, AND “C”. After years of use, someone noticed that 2 of the disconnects were labeled wrong – they were swapped. Not sure how the TRY step had passed all those years.

Cords

• Extension cords should only be used for temporary purposes: tools, cooling fans. Temporary wiring should not be used for permanent installations.
• Extension cords should be in good condition and usually should have some type of GFCI protection.

Damage

• Look for holes, like knockouts that have been, well, knocked out, and not used.
• Cable insulation that’s been pulled back. Basically, you should not see exposed wires.
• Broken disconnects.

Any of the items noted above can be fixed relatively easily, but they will require powering the equipment off to fix. Don’t ask someone to work unsafely to resolve an unsafe condition.

Have a good weekend.

If you want to see the specific OSHA requirements, here are a few links:

Electrical Safety:

• General – 1910.303 – General. | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov)
• Wiring methods, components, and equipment for general use – 1910.305 – Wiring methods, components, and equipment for general use. | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov)
• If you really want to get detailed: Wiring design and protection – 1910.304 – Wiring design and protection. | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov)