Health and Safety for Electrical Engineers - Report Example

Health and Safety for Electrical Engineers Table of Contents 0 Introduction 3 1 Protective clothing and equipment 3 2 Permit-to-work 5 1.3 Isolations 6 1.4 Monitoring equipment 6 2.1 Current regulations 7 2.2 Role of HSE Inspectorate 8 2.3 Safety audits 9 2.4 Codes of practice 10 3.1 Hazard 10 3.2 Risk rating 11 3.3 Frequency and severity 11 3.4 Record 11 4.1 Evidence 12 4.2 Implications 12 4.3 Information 13 4.4 Minimising risk 13 4.5 Implementation 13 4.6 Compliance 14 5.0 Conclusion 14 Reference 15 1.0 Introduction The plan to achieve acceptable safety levels in the work environments in the modern world largely depends on the relationship between the costs incurred in preventing accidents, the moral regard for life and the general well-being of humans. The tendency to conceptualize safety of electrical engineers with such a short and simple statement, conversely, disguises the intricacy of the issue. Although the term safety has been defined in various ways, it can be seen as the minimization or the absence of health hazards. It has been noted that safety is the reduction of health hazards to acceptable levels. The discernment of the cost of safety varies among organizations and individuals over history. Electrical engineers have the moral obligation to work under safe environments. This leads to tough decision making process about the cost of controlling health hazards versus the cost of fatalities or injuries and ethical concerns at the workplace. Due to different people’s abilities, varying discernments of safety and different predilection to various kinds of injuries, what may be safe for an individual may not be safe for the other; thus, further complicating the issue. For instance, an HV device with exposed conductors may be safe on electrical engineer due to knowledge and training but can never be safe in a home environment. Since there are varying perceptions of risk and the types of risks acceptable to them as individuals makes it difficult to arrive at an agreed level of safety. Achieving an accurate assessment of risks based on available information also affects the kind and the acceptable level of risk. This report identifies and discusses the main features of health and safety for electrical engineers and how they can be applied to ensure that their working conditions are safe (Cooper & Dolbey, 2011). 1.1 Protective clothing and equipment To ensure safe working procedures for engineering operations at the workplace, it is important for the employer to provide his/her employees with adequate equipment and personal protective clothing as is practicable to ensure that they are safe from health hazards. First Aid services and Facilities, Work Place Facilities and Amenities and PPE 2002 guide the selection, distribution and use of the protective equipment and the requirements to control specific health hazards. The Health Regulations and Occupational Safety 1996 also guide the process. In the list of controls (substitution, elimination, administration, engineering and Personal Protective Equipment), PPE is often considered the least effective method of preventing work-related injuries and to be used only when other methods are not feasible, or their immediate implementation is not easy (Cooper & Dolbey, 2011). Electrical engineers should use PPE while at their work places to augment or supplement other methods of controlling hazards, to further lower the risk of injuries. The PPE may be considered under the following categories depending on the kind of protection the equipment offers eye protection such as goggles/spectacles, visors and shields to ensure that the eyes are safe from dust particles or bright light, hearing protection such as plugs and earmuffs ensure that loud sounds from engineering operations do not cause damages to the ears; hand protection such as barrier creams and gloves; respiratory protection such as to safeguard the respiratory system from harmful chemicals and dust; skin protection such as sunburn cream, hats and long-sleeved clothes; foot protection such as safety boots; head protection such as hats, hoods and helmets safety equipment while working at height such as fall arrest devices and harness. There may be other PPE for used during specific tasks such, for example, disposable clothing while painting, lead aprons for protection against X-ray radiations, coveralls and sleeve protectors when using chemicals, spats, trousers and leather jackets for welding; cold and thermal protective clothing when working in cold rooms or near furnaces. 1.2 Permit-to-work A permit to the work system may be defined as a formal system that is used in the working environment to control hazardous electrical jobs. Permit-to-work is a written document specifying the kind of work to be done as well as the safety measures that the worker needs to take. They are an essential element of safety systems for several electrical maintenance activities. They ensure that the activities only start after defining the procedures. They provide clear records that all potential hazards at the work place. The document is required when maintenance activities can only take place if normal safeguards are abandoned or when there are new hazards. Examples include pipeline braking, entry into vessels and working under hot conditions. A survey conducted by HSE revealed that a third of accidents occurring in chemical industries are related to maintenance, and the major cause being of deficiency or lack of proper permit-to-work systems. The personnel working in potentially hazardous environment should not assume that the system is good just because they have not had any serious accidents. The employer should critically review the system and ensure that the permit-to-work system is fully documented and clearly indicating how the system should work, the kind of jobs it should be used for, the training and the responsibilities of the people involved and how to check the way the system operates. There should be a clear indication of who can authorize certain kinds of jobs as well as the limits of their authorities. It should also clearly indicate who should be responsible for specifying the safety precautions such as emergency arrangements and isolation. Moreover, it should avoid statements that are misleading or ambiguous and allow for use under unusual occurrences. The permit-to-work document must facilitate communication between individuals involved. Different tasks such as those involving entering confined spaces or hot work may require separate permits to ensure there is more emphasis on particular hazards. 1.3 Isolations Barriers or enclosures should be used at working environments to isolate untrained or unauthorized persons from electrical shocks, particularly from high voltage devices. The barriers used for isolations should be properly designed and located to ensure there is no contact with energized electrical conductors and must only be accessible by trained and authorized personnel. The need to guarantee a safe working environment should govern the process of isolating any type of electrically powered equipment. The methods of isolations include multi-locks, blank off or removal of powered equipment. These are a bit different from isolations techniques used for gas powered equipment which involve the use of isolation valves or linked valve keys. 1.4 Monitoring equipment Work environments that are characterized by loud noise such as constructions sites should have noise level meters. This may help in keeping the noise below a certain level. There should also be thermometers to facilitate the control of temperature. For example, the temperatures can be controlled using coolants or equipment that generates large amounts of heat. Equipment for monitoring the radiation levels in areas such as nuclear power plant are necessary as they enable the persons responsible for the safety of workers to ensure that the levels are kept below the acceptable safe levels. Any excess of the acceptable levels can be avoided by enclosing the sources of the radiations using lead materials or using suitable protective clothing to ensure that workers at the site do not consume excess of the radiations. Other metering equipment that may be needed at work site includes dust and fumes meter. Electrical engineers often work in enclosed spaces such as service ducts and should be provided with a sufficient amount of light and aeration to ensure that they cannot suffocate. Before working under the ground, electrical engineers should be provided with metering equipment for toxic fumes to test the environment before they start working. While working on or near potentially explosive environments like fuel store, fuel pressure and temperature meters should be installed to enable the electrical engineer know if the two quantities are abnormally high and can cause an explosion. Moreover, gas leak detractors should be in place to warn if there is a potential fire hazard. 2.1 Current regulations The Health and Safety Act 1974 clearly indicate the responsibilities of employers in ensuring the safety of their employees and even themselves (for those who are self-employed). The regulations ensuring electrical safety at work place require that precautions are taken against risks of personal injury or deaths from electrical shocks that may occur in the working environment. Employers have the duty of ensuring that, among other important things, employees involved in such activities or working on or near electrically powered equipment take appropriate safety measures, have adequate training and technical knowledge or experience to work safely. The legislation requires that they are provided with appropriate tools, testing equipment and PPE suitable for the work they are carrying out. Under the Act, employees are required to agree with their employers and ensure that safety requirements of the regulations are adequately met. This includes following any instructions concerning matters of safety when working on or near potentially hazardous equipment. The Electrical Energy at Work regulation 1989 demand that employees meet the terms of the regulations. The Health and safety Management at Work Regulations 1999 state that employers should make appropriate and adequate assessment of the health risks to the employees as well as other persons in connection with their undertakings. The employers should record any significant findings of risk assessments where at least five persons are employed. 2.2 Role of HSE Inspectorate The HSE inspectorate is an agency charged with the management of health and safety operations. It is a unified system that combines the roles of several agencies that were initially operating independently. It is also charged with the responsibility of the regulation, enforcement and encouragement of workplace health and safety and for further research in occupational risks. It is a public organization that is based in the UK. Matters concerning health and safety, ranging from insuring employees and providing them with safety equipment. It ensures that fire escape routes and fire assembly points are clearly marked and free from any obstacles; the positions of fire extinguishers agree with fire codes and that employees are well trained in first aid and that they have access to safety equipment. It provides booklets guiding on the safety of workers working in potentially hazardous environments. 2.3 Safety audits An audit denotes an orderly and independent examination that is administered to determine whether various activities and their results match the plans and whether the implantations of the plans are effective and are suitable for achieving the organizational objectives and policies. The health and safety audit is a structured process used to collect information on the effectiveness, efficiency and reliability of the HSE management system and to plan corrective measures. Auditing examines every stage of health and safety management through measuring compliance and with the aim of assessing their validity and effectiveness. One of the problems with health and safety audits is that they examine the problems from their symptoms rather than their root causes. The H&S audits checks if a company has procedures for identifying various requirements of health and safety. It also seeks to determine if safety procedures are clearly set out and well understood. It also checks if the company’s health and safety policy includes procedures for identifying potential hazards at the workplace. Moreover, it checks if assessment procedures are set for products or services a company supplies with the aim of identifying the measures to achieve a zero accident workplace. To keep the staffs aware of the need for safety while working, senior managers should ensure that potentially hazardous equipment are clearly labelled and the safety precautions when working on or next to such equipment. It is also necessary to train the company’s employees on the importance of their safety in the working environment and how they can manage risks. They should then get certification after completing the training. 2.4 Codes of practice Codes of practice for electrical safety at workplace provide guidance for people doing business or managing electrical risks. It enables managers to have an understanding and knowledge to manage the potential hazards associated with electrical systems. It aims at: Providing practical guidance in the form of assessments to ensure that the user can manage various elements of an electrical system within an organization. Enabling the user to develop and implement a suitable system for managing electrical safety. This code is applicable in facilities, buildings, environments and equipment associated with several organizations, including commercial, industrial and public sectors. It is applicable to a wide variety of functions including managing the safety of electrical systems which includes the managers charged with the responsibility of ensuring appropriate safety policies and associated procedures and those responsible for managing specific electrical tasks such as safe conditions for electrical machinery. It is also of benefit to those in need or wishing to improve their knowledge on electrical safety. 3.1 Hazard There are various potential hazards at the work place. However, the ones that an electrical engineer is most likely to encounter while working include electrical shocks, toxic fumes while working in enclosed spaces, electric fires due to electrical faults, noise from electrical machinery and equipment, harmful radiations, moving parts of rotary machines, lighting due to failures in the electrical system or chemical hazards. 3.2 Risk rating Risk ratings can be described using the terms low, moderate, high or extreme. Low risks are generally acceptable and would unlikely require specific use of resources. They are managed by routine procedures. Moderate risks are also acceptable and are less likely to result in many damages or threaten the effectiveness and efficiency of the activity. Operational managers develop and implement treatment plans. They are managed through response procedures and specific response. High risks are generally unacceptable. They are likely to result in some damage disruption or breaching of controls. They require the attention of senior managers and their responsibilities are specified. Plans for treatment are developed and reported to the company’s senior managers. Extreme risks are not acceptable. They threaten the survival or continued operations of the company. Such risks require immediate actions and involved the senior management with detailed plans for treatment. 3.3 Frequency and severity In evaluating the frequency and severity of risks at workplace, descriptive words such as common, the regular, frequent, occasional, possible and improbable may be used. Evaluation of the consequence of accidents in the workplace normally examines the level of injuries of the victims. They may be graded as minor, trivial, major or death. 3.4 Record Taking records on the health and safety measures for a company involves producing a description for each hazard, creating awareness and employee training and analyzing a system. Other companies take notes of hazards encountered at the workplace and storing in their database. The company can store the hazards information it has encountered at the workplace in a database and making it accessible online. This enables easy access of information at any time from anywhere in the world. This is more as it takes a short time and little resources to access the required information. 4.1 Evidence Evaluation of evidence that shows the likelihood of the reoccurrence of a risk that had already been witnessed at the workplace often uses statistical data. These may include charts, temperatures, working hours, noise levels, wrong procedures while performing potentially hazardous tasks, working practice and time of the day. By comparing the prevailing conditions to the conditions that were prevailing and led to the occurrence of risks, it is possible to tell of a looming accident in the working environment. For instance, working for several hours at high air temperatures can make an electrical engineer fatigued and lead to carelessness, which puts him/her at high risks. 4.2 Implications Carrying out an analysis and evaluation of the implications of risk factors considers the anticipated damages that may result from the risks such as severe injuries, threat to life, property, environment, the need for reconstruction, the effects on the operations of the company and other companies and the threat to its closure. Trips are common problems with electrical systems, but they ensure the safety of the working environment. In the case of an electrical fault (such as over current) and it does not trip, they are high chances of severe damages to electrical equipment and may cause fire. Consider for instance, an electrical engineer working in a constrained space such as a duct or underground, fault isolation mechanisms are necessary to ensure his/her safety in case of a fault. An equally risky condition is when the engineer is in a scaffolding or working near a fuel store that are potentially hazardous area. 4.3 Information This task involves information about risk factors at the workplace. They include data sheets on various devices, information on substances common at the workplace, codes of practice, factory rules, identification of hazards, safe working procedures, and procedures for training new employees and contractors. 4.4 Minimising risk Risks at the workplace can be minimized observing all the safety procedures. These include proper insulation of electrical conductors, guarding potentially hazardous machinery and sticking to the safety measures. For example, when an electrical engineer repairs and maintains electrical machinery, s/he should ensure that s/he is isolated from the ground to avoid any risks of electrical shocks. S/he should wear rubber boots and use tools with insulated handle while working on the energized parts. While working at height, s/he should use a harness because s/he stands a high risk of falling. 4.5 Implementation The company can implement health and safety plans and ensure a hazard-free workplace by implementing safety management policies, effective communication and forming safety committees. The company can ensure that the entire workforce is involved in developing a safety culture by incorporating safety training in the orientation program for new employees. This will ensure that every employee of the company has at least undergone safety training. Moreover, the training should emphasise on the importance of following safety procedures while at the workplace. A small electrical firm can ensure that its employees adopt a safety culture by implementing a scheme for penalizing those who do not adhere to the procedures. 4.6 Compliance A small engineering firm can keep up-to-date with the recent changes in the regulations affecting them through online news sources on specific websites such as the HSE website, IEEE website among others. To ensure that relevant information on the changes in the regulations and codes are available to all to the entire workforce, the managers should produce hardcopies of the news item and distribute to each of the employees. 5.0 Conclusion The tendency to conceptualize safety of electrical engineers with such a short and simple statement, conversely, disguises the intricacy of the issue. Safety is the reduction of health hazards to acceptable levels. The ability to have an accurate assessment of risks based on available information also affects the kind and the acceptable level of risk. Electrical engineers should use PPE while at their work places to augment or supplement other methods of controlling hazards, to further lower the risk of injuries. Reference COOPER, W. F., & DOLBEY JONES, D. A. (2011). Electrical safety engineering. Oxford [u.a.], Newnes. Read More