Electrical Safety

Electricity, even at very low voltages, can be hazardous. Under the right conditions, a 30 volt circuit can carry enough current to cause severe injury or death. An electrical shock occurs when your body comes in contact with a live electrical source, such as open electrical boxes, bare wires or from equipment that is not properly grounded.

Electrical safety in today's modern and technological environment is extremely important. Everywhere you go, machines, computers, tools, household items, everything runs on electricity. If electricity is properly controlled, it's very useful, but if you don't treat it with respect and follow the rules, it's very dangerous.

Electrical shock injuries are less severe when the current does not pass through or near nerve centers or vital organs. The majority of electrical injuries in industry, the electrical current flows from hands to feet. Since such a path involves both the heart and the lungs and are usually very serious.

Another type of injury is burns from electrical flashes. These burns are usually very deep and are slow to heal and can involve large areas of the body. Even persons at a reasonable distance from the arc can receive eye burns.

Quite a few injuries result from falls from one level to another caused by the worker receiving a shock from defective or malfunctioning equipment. That's the down side of electricity, but learning how to properly use and handle electricity will help reduce the risks.

The first step is to never use damaged or defective electrical tools or equipment. Tools and equipment must be in good working condition, with proper safeguards installed and working properly. This means you must inspect your equipment before using it.

Inspect it for frayed, cracked or cut cables, loose fittings on plugs and if a ground prong is required on the plug, it must be functioning properly. Let's quickly explain what this ground prong does.

On normal 110 volt equipment, there are three wires inside the cable. One is the hot wire, one is neutral and one is ground. The hot and neutral move electricity along the cable to provide the energy from the source to the tool. The third wire, or ground is there in case of a short or malfunction. If this occurs, the electricity then goes to ground, which means the electricity is transferred to this ground wire back to earth or ground. If this ground wire is missing, the electricity could flow through your body.

If you're using a grounded type tool and the ground prong is missing, you have no electrical protection in case something happens.

Inspect your tools and equipment to make sure all the cables are in good condition and the ground prong is in place and not missing. Don't use damaged electrical cords, plugs or equipment until it's been replaced or repaired. Never try to repair electrical cords by wrapping electrical tape around the cord. Frayed, cut or damaged cords must be replaced or repaired by a trained and authorized electrician.

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