This is a great article highlighting the importance of safety in an entire organization. Good quotes: “The absence of injuries does not mean the presence of safety. You can have an organization with no injuries that’s very unsafe—and extremely lucky.” “The goal in my mind should always be zero (injury and incident rate). We may [...]

To prevent workers from being in the direct blast zone, a new racking device was developed by PG&E to remotely roll in/rack-out the high voltage circuit breakers from outside of the building.  PG&E developed the safety improvement in order to prevent injury and eliminate the safety hazard. Click here to read the article and watch [...]

According to statistics from the Division of Worker’s Compensation of the State Department of Labor and Training,  Rhode Island electricians suffered 3 deaths and 2207 injuries during the 10 year period of 2001-2010.   Rhode Island’s Committee on Occupational Safety and Health indicates that the most common cause of workplace injuries and fatalities is failure to recognize hazards involved;  [...]

Read this article on reducing exposure in LV Distribution Systems as written by Maurice M’Mello, PE-Systems Engineer of GE Energy / Industrial Solutions / Canada. Article conclusion:   “….arc flash hazard analysis now tells us that the setting of protective devices on this basis could be detrimental to operational and maintenance personnel if an arcing fault [...]

A study was performed utilizing a combination of imaging techniques and chemical analysis to assess damage to tissues from electrical shock.   The studies showed an interesting, albeit complex, picture of electrical injury, where several pathological events occur contemporaneously. Click here to read the results of the study published on the website of SPIE (International Society [...]

Training for electrical safety. Article on use of voltage testers for testing absence of voltage. Click here to read Jim White’s excellent article on Voltage Testers and Testing for Absence of Voltage.

Attempting to repair an external flood light, a worker was shocked, burned, and suffered memory loss after touching a live junctionn box.  The contractor and managing director of the firm hired to perform the work were fined for not having protected the worker’s health and safety. Click here to read the article from 3/9/12.

In 2012, OSHA will be targeting the wind-energy industry with one of its National Emphasis Programs (NEP) due to several arc-flash events associated with wind turbines.  OSHA reports 32 arc-flash accident investigations that occurred in 2009 at wind farms. Click here to read the article dated 3/13/12.

Hobart Brothers Co. of Troy, OH, was cited with 55 safety & health violations, with proposed penalities of $174K.  OSHA focused on this company due to higher-than-average injury and illness rates.  Included in the serious safety violations were failures to isolate energy sources, provide lockout/tagout procedures for the energy sources of equipment, train workers on [...]

Outlet boxes with the product name listed below have not been UL tested for safety, and subsequently it is not known if they comply with UL’s safety requirements.  UL is notifying electricians that these boxes bear a counterfiet UL Mark. Click here to read this Public Notice dated 2/28/12. Name of Product: Metallic Outlet Box Cat. [...]