Page 36 - OHS, June 2021

TRAINING: ELECTRICAL SAFETY
More Than Half of Workplace Electrical Fatalities Attributed to Non-Electrical Occupations
Absence of Voltage Testers can save lives by providing safety for everyone.
BY RACHEL BUGARIS
While investigating the recovery of electrical burn victims, researchers discovered a distressing truth about their data: the use of safety equipment, such as PPE and insulated tools was alarmingly low.
In fact, every electrical burn patient in the study had failed to follow all appropriate safety measures, but the
problem isn’t limited to electrical work.1 ESFi reports that between 2011 and 2019, 68 percent of workplace electrical fatalities were attributed to non-electrical occupations. Electrical hazards exist throughout the workplace and impact workers who aren’t trained electricians or electrical contractors for a number of logical reasons.
A machine operator works on a
machine that is powered by electricity and a mechanic does, too. They may be experts at their jobs, but they aren’t necessarily qualified people ready to establish and verify an electrically safe working condition. Facilities all over the world right now are reexamining how spaces are cleaned, where cleaning crews need to go and what they need to touch to keep spaces clean or disinfected. Every facility is
32 Occupational Health & Safety | JUNE 2021
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