Page 18 - Occupational Health & Safety, June 2019

ELECTRICAL SAFETY
Improving Electrical Safety in Industrial Environments Through Enhanced Technology Capabilities
For both predictive and prescriptive maintenance plans in industrial and manufacturing environments, IIoT technology is an important advancement. BY GENEVIEVE PASCULLI
18 Occupational Health & Safety | JUNE 2019
www.ohsonline.com
Electrical safety is a key component in any environment, and as technology advances, so does the ability to effectively manage and prevent electrical hazards. The advancement
of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) gives end users within harsh industrial environments additional options and resources to ensure electrical components are operating efficiently and, most importantly, safely.
The IIoT uses smart sensors and devices on con- nected machinery to gather real-time data and ana- lyze it to enhance manufacturing and other industrial operations. This extensive visibility into operations and machine health and information can contribute to business decisions that increase productivity and safety. Predictive analytics allow end users to better prevent and warn of future incidents and potential hazards before they come to fruition and can serve as a troubleshooting tool when a power issue arises with connected equipment.
The traditional electrical safety methods of yes- terday, combined with today’s enhanced technologies and processes, are working in tandem to optimize and enhance the safety and performance of large-scale in- dustrial operations. Combining the use of advanced
data analytics with connected equipment allows for gleaning new insights from the massive data streams being produced during normal operation.
Remote Monitoring and Real-Time Insights
With the ability to address equipment and wiring needs remotely to better monitor and manage in- dustrial operations, the need for workers to maintain faulty equipment on site is significantly reduced. The cloud technology allows for functions such as real- time ground continuity monitoring, which ensures that shock hazards and the effects of electromagnetic interference are diminished.
One of the simplest examples of the benefits of IIoT integration into plant operations is increased visibility inside of electrical equipment. Most high-voltage elec- trical equipment includes protective covers or is con- tained in enclosures to prevent exposure to live parts. However, for troubleshooting activities, these protec- tive covers historically had to be removed in order to be accessed by meters and other diagnostic tools. Now, advanced analytics can warn of conditions within external displays or remote terminals without physi- cally removing any protective enclosures by hand, so
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