Occupational Health & Safety: The need for analyzing electrical hazards in the workplace has been recognized by a small segment of the industry for many years. The petrochemical industry and many government institutions have performed research on this subject for more than 30 years. For the most part however, the electrical industry, at least at the user level, has largely ignored the subject, essentially reacting to catastrophic accidents rather than proactively trying to predict and prevent them.
3 comments:
This article is full or good and interesting facts about electrical safety that more people should be aware of. Electricity is something we all, in the entertainment world, lose respect for at one time or another. Unfortunately it usually takes a serious accident for us to realize just how dangerous electricity can be, and start to observe the proper protocols.
I haven't been at the School of Drama for long, so I'm not sure if there is any sort of electrical safety training or not, but I believe it's an important thing we should be teaching our students.
While this was not new information to me, it was good to see the actual code clauses that define what precautions need to be taken. Electrical hazards are some of the most deadly that can be encountered in the entertainment industry workplace, and everyone should be aware of them and the steps they can take to minimize the risk associated with them. I work with the Spring Carnival Committee to help ensure that electrical work in the various booths is carried out safely and properly. This article is a very good example of the things that I attempt to get across to the various organizations.
Training workers at all levels about proper electrical safety is something that many times gets overlooked at live entertainment venues. Many shops especially are less strict about lockout tagout procedures for tooling and even less strict about lockout tagout for electrical systems. Many theatrical technicians feel that their electrical training as a lighting tech is sufficient to keep them safe and in many instances that is simply not the case. When moving into a new shop and theatre environment one thing that many people do not look to familiarize themselves with is the facilities electrical systems. I really would make sure that you know and have inspected how the electrical systems have or have not been maintained. Many live entertainment venues have adhoc fixes for electrical problems that need to be fixed properly and inspected by proper authorities but we many times look at it as it hasn't failed yet so why worry. Specifically with theatrical lighting rigs you need to inspect and have proper PPE when inspecting and repairing. Make sure that you also have agreed upon terminology for all of the items that you will see along the way and the components that you will be using because some of the worst injuries that I have seen happened because of honest miscommunication. Electricity is not something to be trifled with and people need to know a clear policy on modifications and documentation of modifications on any installed electrical systems. There is nothing worse than not having an explanation of why something is wired the way that it is.
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