Saturday, January 27, 2024
Electricians are faced with the most dangerous of tasks and highest level of risk at the end of a construction project. More electricians are seriously injured or killed during the final stages of construction than at any other phase. Once we connect the utility power to the building and we energize the service we have unleashed the second most powerful force that mankind has learned to harness. The entire building now contains junction boxes, raceways, cables and equipment which have the ability to be energized. All of these items are also going to be energized for the first time. These devices and circuits are made with materials with which are manufactured by imperfect humans, and then installed by imperfect humans under less than perfect conditions. There is no logical reason for us to assume they will operate perfectly and as they were designed. We simply cannot perform our jobs thinking that they will work correctly and safely.
Every single circuit will have to be tested to ensure it is working correctly and as designed and that it meets the minimum requirements of the National Electric Code. We will have to do that testing and troubleshooting and that has significant risk. We have to maintain our focus, follow our procedures that we have been trained to do and systematically complete the building and turn it over, and we have to do this safely. E Light requires that before the service is energized on a new building, the superintendent must think through a plan to safely test and troubleshoot the building, put this plan into writing in a Testing and Troubleshooting plan and then submit the plan to the Director of Education and Loss Prevention and the VP of Operations to approve. Once the plan is approved, a printed copy of it must be posted in every electrical room on the project and every journeyman electrician on the project must be trained on the plan. All testing and troubleshooting on the project must then be done according to the plan.
In addition, the superintendent must order panel lock out bars and lock out trees for all the panels on the project. Once the service is energized, the panels must have panel lock out bars and tress on each of them. Every employee must have their personal LOTO lock on their person every day at the beginning of each shift. Employees must be briefed on which circuits they will be working on each day, and they must each place their LOTO lock on the panel that contains those circuits after they have been de-energized. They must also test every circuit with a live-dead-live test before they perform any work to ensure the circuit is de-energized. Each employee should have a nine-volt battery on their person at all times so they can perform a live dead live test. We have to always check to ensure the circuits are de-energized and locked out. Not matter how simple or short a task is, this is critical. We have to take the time to make sure we are not doing energized work. We just don't need to take that risk. Those personnel that will be doing testing and troubleshooting must do so using the Testing and Troubleshooting only. If energized has to be performed outside of testing and troubleshooting, and energized electrical permit will need to be completed and submitted for approval. We can efficiently bring a building to life and turn over a quality product, and we can do it safely.
One last point, the corporate safety subject is a general safety training subject so that during the year all of our employees are trained on safety subject. Each weekly safety meeting, including this one, contains a section where the superintendent enters other subjects that should be discussed that are directly relevant to each project that week. It is important that the superintendent enters information into this section and covers that with the crew. If they forget, ask them.
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