Guide To Electrical Safety According To Construction Safety Regulations

This article serves as a guide to electrical safety according to the requirements of Regulation 64 of the Workplace Health and Safety Regulations

. This particular safety regulation is, of course, aimed at preventing electrical disasters. Outlined below are the general requirements for this safety regulation.

1. If you don't intend to use a generator, make sure that the mains power is up before starting construction work. Never rely on a power supply from adjacent properties since this poses many more problems than it does benefits.

2. One main switchboard must be present in the site. This main switchboard must be well protected and easily accessible. Furthermore, this switchboard must be placed as close as possible to road level and must be built of high-strength material.

3. Distribution boards must be made easily accessible. If the construction work is done on a multi-leveled structure, each level must have a distribution board for easy access. Make it a point not to have flexible cords sprawled across levels unless this is required when working in elevator shafts, stair-wells and for other work that are done simultaneously on multiple levels.

4. For mains cables that are made to run horizontally across the site, these should be supported at intervals of 3 meters and at a height of not less than 2 meters.

5. For mains cables that are made to run vertically, they must be supported every 6 meters and made a special support for the topmost point.

6. Catenary wire that are used as aerial wiring must use a double layer of insulation. If avoidable, aerial wirings must not cross vehicle pathways. If this is unavoidable though, then a minimum aerial conductor clearance of 4 meters must be applied.5 meters must be maintained and catenary placed at a clearance of about 3.9 meters and at 6 meters at either side of the aerial conductors.

7. Having safety switches for transportable huts, welding equipment and lighting circuits is a must.

8. It is a must that flexible cords must not have its wrappings in the color green and that they be placed in areas where they would not be exposed to conditions that would cause them damage. They should also be made supported off the ground if they are more than 10 meters in distance from the appliance they are connected to and if the cross access ways.

9. Inspection and testing must be done on each electrical equipment to be used in the construction work. This procedure could be considered somewhat complicated and and may need to be studied. Also, just when a construction worker is about to use an electrical equipment, this worker must make an ocular inspection of the electrical equipment as another safety measure towards aversion of injuries caused by electrical shocks.

These are general requirements to strictly follow during construction work. Studying these is highly recommended to ensure that these would be properly implemented. Making sure that one has taken all the steps to avert electrical disasters is one more step towards making the construction site a safe place for one's workers. This is why abiding with Construction Safety Regulations is critical.

by:Martin Sejas

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