Building an Electrical Safety Program
Every day around the country, maintenance personnel are severely injured or killed when working around or with electricity. Every time I read an article of this nature, I ask myself, “What kind of Electrical Safety Program is in place at that company?” The question I should really be asking is “Did the company have an existing electrical safety program?”
I have assisted in the implementation of Electrical Safety Programs, but I realize now that my view has been a little narrow. The majority of my time that has been spent on electrical safety programs has been spent with a focus on what is really only a very small portion of the overall requirements. When the question “How do you build an Electrical Safety Program?” was considered, I had to stop and think for a moment. I needed to change my perspective from narrow to more broad and consider things beyond what the technicians who I was training were seeing, and realize how those views then affected the efforts to create a viable and functioning Electrical Safety Program.
After much thought, the following is what I would do to create a viable Electrical Safety Program; one that actually works instead of one that just looks good on paper:
Establish Commitment – Implementing an electrical safety program has to be a fully involved process from the top down. If there is resistance from anyone involved – from CEO down to the last new hire – the program will be ineffective and can have disastrous consequences.
Understand the Rules – It is crucial to know which rules apply to your workplace and understand the rules you are required to follow. The rules will dictate how much you have to do and, in many cases, how to do it.
Hazard Awareness – Get out and thoroughly inspect the workplace. You cannot build an effective program unless you have some understanding of the hazards in the workplace. Do not be afraid to get outside help. There are multiple sources to obtain help, if needed, and those sources devote much of their time to finding hazards that you may overlook. This should also be used as an engineering tool to identify areas where engineering changes are needed to eliminate or reduce the hazards identified.
Develop a Plan – Develop a plan for what needs to be done and get a general idea of who is responsible for each aspect of the plan. Use this as a tool for the next step in the process, and do not be afraid to make additional changes as needed.
Establish Responsibilities – Get the right person in the right job, clearly delineate their responsibilities and provide them with the tools and knowledge they need to fulfill their responsibilities.
Establish a Timeline – Be realistic and be prepared for program development to take time, effort and money. Be ready for growing pains. These may include, but certainly are not limited to, such ‘pains’ as reluctance from maintenance to change the in which it works and operations fighting the additional time requirements that maintenance may then require.
Train – Everyone in the company will need to understand their duties and responsibilities in the program. Not everyone will need the same level of training.
Evaluate – Training must be evaluated for effectiveness. There are several ways this can be done; use the one that best fits.
Develop a Written Policy – Once you have had the time to get the program in place and have gotten everyone trained, formalize the process into a company policy that includes a regular review cycle to ensure the policy stays up to date.
Review – Rules are constantly changing, equipment design, etc., and you need to stay as current as possible. If this seems a little time consuming, don’t be afraid to keep a consultant on the side to advise you of the new rule changes. Ultimately, however, how you do it is less important than actually and actively doing it.
