subject: Personal Protective Equipment For Electrical Service [print this page] In today's society, it is hard to imagine a world without electricity. Electricity powers everything from lights to computers, televisions, stereos, and appliances. Electricity is not only powerful however; it can also be quite dangerous, capable of causing shock, sparks, fire, and explosions. Whether you are an industrial electrical contractor, a commercial electrical contractor, an engineer, an electrician, or some other professional, dealing with electrical equipment installation is a serious matter that should not be taken lightly.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), one way to create a safer workplace when working with electricity and other powerful materials is through the proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE), which is beneficial for minimizing the risk of a variety of hazards. Below, learn more about PPE, including purposes, examples, and advice for selecting it.
Purposes of Personal Protective Equipment:
Personal protective equipment is vital to safe and effective commercial electrical installation and maintenance. It is designed to protect the body's arms, hands, feet, head, eyes, ears, and torso from dangerous situations, providing a barrier between a worker and surrounding threats. OSHA requires that employers provide PPE to prevent workplace injuries.
Examples of Personal Protective Equipment:
There are several types of personal protective equipment. For the eyes, prescription lenses are not enough of a barrier to eliminate injuries; wearers should also choose protective eyeware such as goggles, safety spectacles, welding shields, or face shields. For feet and legs, special-purpose shoes, leggings, toe guards, and feet/shin guards all offer extra protection. Hard hats and helmets can shield the head from falling objects, severe impact, and harsh temperatures. For the hands, a variety of gloves are available, from leather and canvas to chemical-resistant options such as latex, butyl, neoprene, and nitrile. Other key PPE options include full-body suits and protective hearing devices such as earplugs.
Selecting Personal Protective Equipment:
Before selecting PPE, companies should assess the specific hazards of their workplaces. This evaluation can include, among other things, identifying sources of electricity, high temperatures, motion, and light radiation, factors that all come into play with industrial electrical service. Once the information has been gathered, employers can determine what problems need to be addressed and which hazards can be avoided through proper PPE.
Characteristics of Good Personal Protective Equipment:
Appropriate protective equipment must be safely designed and constructed, specifically chosen to combat the hazards from which it should protect. The above PPE described only scratch the surface of available options. For more information, OSHA can provide a great deal of help, from technical assistance to training and education.
