Title: Work Hazards and Safety Practices in the Electric Power Industry
Course: WGF 107 DEVELOPMENT > Section: Content

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Content
Electricity has become an essential of modern life, both at home and on the job. Some employees work with electricity directly, as is the case with engineers, electricians, or people who do wiring, such as overhead lines, cable harnesses, or circuit assemblies. Others, such as office workers and salespeople, work with it indirectly. As a source of power, electricity is accepted without much thought to the hazards encountered. Perhaps because it has become such a familiar part of our surroundings, it often is not treated with the respect it deserves.

OSHA's electrical standards address the government's concern that electricity has long been recognized as a serious workplace hazard, exposing employees to such dangers as electric shock, electrocution, fires and explosions. The objective of the standards is to minimize such potential hazards by specifying design characteristics of safety in use of electrical equipment and systems.

OSHA's electrical standards were carefully developed to cover only those parts of any electrical system that an employee would normally use or contact. The exposed and/or operating elements of an electrical installation - lighting equipment, motors, machines, appliances, switches, controls, enclosures, etc. - must be so constructed and installed as to minimize electrical dangers to people in any workplace.

The OSHA electrical standards were based on the National Fire Protection Association's standard NFPA 70E, Electrical Safety Requirements for Employee Workplaces, and the NFPA 70 Committee derived Part I of their document from the 1978 edition of the National Electrical Code (NEC). The standards extracted from the NEC were those considered to most directly apply to employee safety and least likely to change with each new edition of the NEC. OSHA's electrical standards are performance oriented; therefore they contain few direct references to the NEC. However, the NEC contains specific information as to how the required performance can be obtained.

This discussion does not cover OSHA's Electrical Safety-Related Work Practices Standard, which contains requirements for working on or near energized and deenergized electrical equipment, the use of personal protective equipment, and the safe use of electrical equipment.

This discussion covers requirements in OSHA's Design Safety Standards for Electrical Systems that are frequently overlooked and may present serious hazards. The reader is encouraged to consult the complete text of OSHA's electrical standards for all of OSHA's requirements.
Links/Upload | Electrical - OSHA Office of Training and Education https://www.osha.gov/dte/library/electrical/electrical.html eTools, eMatrix, Expert Advisors and v-Tools – OSHA Office of Training and Education    https://www.osha.gov/dts/osta/oshasoft/index.html OSHA_electrical_safety.pptx
Attributions | Image and content courtesy of Occupational Safety and Health Administration – U.S. Department of Labor