Student Life

Security and Public Safety > Environmental Health and Safety Policies > Electrical Safety Program

General Policy
The purpose of this program is to inform interested persons, including employees, that Lake Forest College is complying with the OSHA Electrical Safety Standard, Title 29 Code of Federal Regulations 1910.333.  This requires written procedures for preventing electrical shock or other injuries to employees resulting from direct or indirect electrical contact. This program applies to all work operations at Lake Forest College where employees may be exposed to potentially hazardous electrical, other than laboratories, which have their own guidelines. This program is also designed to provide guidelines that will help protect the entire campus community from these same injuries.

The Director of Security & Public Safety has overall responsibility for coordinating safety and health programs at Lake Forest College. The Director of Facilities Management is the person with the overall responsibility for determining which employees are “qualified” to work on or near energized or de-energized parts.  (See below for definitions of these terms.) The Lake Forest College Safety Committee will review and update the program as necessary. Copies of the written program may be obtained from the Business Office, the Department of Security & Public Safety, or the Department of Facilities Management. 

If, after reading this program, you find that improvements can be made, please contact the Director of Security & Public Safety or the Director of Facilities Management. We encourage all suggestions because we are committed to creating a safe environment for all members of the community and a successful electrical safety program is an important component of our overall safety plan. We strive for clear understanding, safe work practices, and involvement in the program from all members of the College community.

Normal Practice
Almost everyone at the College works with electrical equipment.  In most cases, the common sense of our employees is the most reliable safety measure.  For example, if a computer is covered with water, do not it turn on until it has been checked by a qualified individual from Facilities Management or Library and Information Technology.  The cord connected to a coffeepot or heater should be checked to see if it is operating properly: if the cord or plug seems too warm when the device is operating, then there may be a problem.  Frayed power cords, damaged outlets, and switches that work intermittently should be investigated.  If you are unsure if a tool or appliance is electrically safe, then contact your supervisor or other qualified individual for assistance.  On a routine basis, no one other than qualified Facilities Management personnel should make changes in the wiring within the walls of a building.

Reporting
Concerns about electrical safety can be reported to Facilities Management or to the Department of Security and Public Safety.

General Guidelines and Definitions
No persons or employees, except for those determined to be qualified by the Director of Facilities Management, shall work on or near exposed energized or de-energized parts. 

A qualified person is one who received the appropriate training to work on or near exposed energized parts. The training may be either classroom or on-the-job training, or a combination of both. The degree of training should correlate to the individual risk of each employee based on his or her job.

Energized equipment is any equipment that is connected to an electrical circuit, either directly or by the use of a cord.

Equipment is de-energized after it has been disconnected from the circuit and all electricity has been drained from the equipment.  Some equipment may store a small amount of electricity and needs to be drained. An example of this would be a machine that after it has been disconnected and the control switch is turned on, it may run for a second or two. All equipment should be tested to make sure the power is drained before working on it.

Exposed parts would usually mean that the cover is removed and or the parts that are carrying or conducting the electricity are visible, and you would be able to come in contact with them.

It is the responsibility of all outside contractors or vendors to verify that their employees are qualified to work on or near exposed energized or de-energized parts, and that they follow all guidelines under the OSHA Electrical Safety Standard, Title 29 Code of Federal Regulations 1910.333.

Whenever working on or near equipment or circuits that are or may be energized, employees must use safe work practices to prevent electrical shock or other injuries from either direct or indirect electrical contacts. Additional specific safe work practices must be consistent with the nature and extent of the hazard present. All parts should be considered energized until tested and verified that they are de-energized. 

Employees must de-energize live parts to which they may be exposed, unless it has been determined by the Director of Facilities Management that de-energizing does one of the following.

• Introduces additional or increased hazards, such as interruption of life support equipment, deactivation of alarm systems, shutdown of ventilation systems in hazardous locations, or deactivation of lighting systems.
• Is infeasible due to equipment design or operational limitations, such as testing of active circuits and work on circuits that form a key part of a continuous process.

Employees need not de-energize live parts operating at less than 50V, as long as there is no increased exposure to electrical burns or to explosion due to electrical arcs.

The safe work practices must meet the following criteria:

• Protect employees and others against contact with energized circuit parts directly with any part of their body or indirectly through some other conductive object.
• Be suitable for the working conditions.
• Be suitable for the voltage level of the exposed electric conductors or circuit parts.
• When working on de-energized circuits or parts, all employees should follow the guidelines and procedures outlined in the College’s lockout/tagout program.

• You should not manually reset the breaker until after you have determined that the equipment and circuit can safely be re-energized.
• If you are repeatedly tripping breakers or blowing fuses do not continually reset the breaker or replace the fuse. You must notify Facilities Management to determine the cause of the repeated breakdowns. Nobody should be allowed to use the equipment until it has been tested and repaired.
• No employee should modify any circuit breakers or fuse panels.

Use of electrical equipment when flammable or ignitable materials are present
You must not use electrical equipment capable of igniting flammable materials, even where such materials are present only occasionally, unless you take measures to prevent hazardous conditions from developing. Such materials include but are not limited to flammable gases, vapors, or liquids; combustible dust; and ignitable fibers or flyings.

Personal Protective Equipment
Workers should always use the PPE necessary to protect themselves from electrical shock or other injuries. All PPE should be maintained in a safe, reliable condition, and should be inspected periodically. If you are unsure of what protective equipment to use, you should ask the Director of Facilities Management or his designee.
 

Warning Signs and Barricades
You must use the following alerting techniques to warn and protect others from electrical shock, burns, or electrical equipment failure hazards.

• Safety signs, safety symbols, or accident prevention tags to warn others about electrical hazards that may endanger them.
• Barricades used in conjunction with safety signs where it is necessary to prevent or limit access to work areas exposing persons to un-insulated energized conductors or circuit parts.  Note: You must use only non-conductive barricades for this purpose.
• If signs and barricades do not provide sufficient warning and protection from electrical hazards, you must provide an attendant to warn and protect others.

• External defects such as loose parts, deformed or missing pins, or damage to the outer jacket or insulation.
• Evidence of possible internal damage such as pinched or crushed outer jackets.

Exception:  if cord-and-plug-connected equipment and extension cords remain connected once they are put in place and are not exposed to damage (such as cords connecting computer equipment to their electrical outlet) they need to be inspected only when they are relocated.

If there is a defect or evidence of damage that might expose an employee to injury, the defective or damaged item should be removed from service until after repairs and test of the equipment are made.

Workers must handle portable equipment so that it will not cause damage.

Employees must never use flexible electric cords connected to equipment for raising or lowering the equipment.

Flexible cords should never be fastened with staples or hung in any way that might damage the outer jacket or insulation.

When using energized equipment, make sure that employee’s hands are not wet when plugging and unplugging flexible cords, and cord-and-plug connected equipment.

Handle energized plug and receptacle connections only with insulating protective equipment if the condition of the connection could provide a conducting path to the employee’s hand (for example, if a cord connector is wet from being immersed in water).

Make sure the locking-type connectors are properly secured after connection.

If using a portable electric tool with a grounding plug, you must use flexible cords that also contain an equipment-grounding conductor.

Workers must never attach, connect, or alter attachment plugs and receptacles in a way that prevents proper grounding.

Workers must never alter equipment to allow the grounding pole of a plug to be inserted in slots intended for connection to the current-carrying conductors.

Any portable electric equipment and flexible cords used in a hazardous location (such as working in wet conditions, or any highly conductive work locations) must be UL (Underwriters Laboratory) approved for use under those conditions. (For example, only an electrical extension cord approved for use under water may be used to supply power to an electrical pump under wet conditions.)

Workers must always make sure that the electrical plug properly mates with the receptacle they are using, including receptacles on cord sets.