1.

ELECTRICAL
SAFETY
Presenter: A. Zengeya, NSSA-Gweru

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Electrical Hazards

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Electrical Hazards

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2. INTRODUCTION
 Electrical safety encompasses among
other aspects; design, selection,
erection, operation, maintenance,
inspection and testing of electrical
equipment/installations.
 The objective of this presentation is to
highlighting the basic measures that
are very vital in protecting persons and
property against the hazards that may
arise from the use of electricity.
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3. VOCABULARY
Electricity: A form of energy passing from one point to the
other in the form of an electric current
Voltage: Electrical pressure
Current: The quantity of electrons contained in the flow of
energy
Direct Current: Current which flows in one direction only.
Alternating current: current where the direction of
flow alters at regular intervals
Conductor: Substance with low resistance to the flow of
electricity
Insulator: Substance with high resistance to the flow of
electricity
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4. ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT

 A= Source of electrical current e.g. battery or

generator
 C=Line/phase conductors conductors
 R=Appliance/Machine/Equipment
 v=Voltage
 i=Current 6
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5. DANGERS OF
ELECTRICITY
 Contact burns
 Arc burns
 Radiation burns
 Sparks and arcing
 Shock/Electrocution
 Eye injuries caused by uv-radiation
from arcs
 Fire

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Dangerous Contact
Standards and regulations distinguish
two kinds of dangerous contact,
 Direct contact
 Indirect contact
 and corresponding protective
measures

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Direct Contact

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Indirect Contact

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6. CONCEPTS OF
ELECTRICAL SAFETY
 Electrical safety is primarily concerned
with protecting persons from electric shock
and other dangers highlighted above.
 The principal protective measures of
achieving the aforesaid are protection
against direct contact and protection against
indirect contact.
 The working environment also has a major
impact on electrical safety.

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Protection Against Electric
Shock
 The fundamental rule of protection is
provided by the document IEC 61140 which
covers both electrical installations and
electrical equipment.
“Hazardous-live-parts shall not be
accessible and accessible conductive
parts shall not be hazardous.”
 This requirement needs to apply under
Normal conditions & under a single fault
condition
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a) PROTECTION AGAINST
DIRECT CONTACT
 Proper insulation of live parts
 Protection by obstacles to prevent
unintentional bodily approach/contact
 Protection by barriers/enclosures providing
the relevant degree of protection
 Protection by position i.e. placing out of
reach

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Protection Against Direct
Contact( Insulation)

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Protection Against Direct
Contact (Enclosures)

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Additional Measures Against
Direct Contact

In order to protect users in such

circumstances, highly sensitive fast tripping
devices, based on the detection of residual
currents to earth (which may or may not be
through a human being or animal) are used
to disconnect the power supply
automatically, and with sufficient rapidity to
prevent injury to, or death by electrocution,
of a normally healthy human being
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Additional Measures Against
Direct Contact
An additional measure
of protection against
the hazards of direct
contact is provided by
the use of residual
current operating
device, which operate
at 30 mA or less, and
are referred to as
RCDs of high
sensitivity
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b) Protection Against
Indirect Contact
 Protection by earthed equipotential
bonding and automatic disconnection
(0.4s) of supply
 Protection by use of double-
insulated(class II) equipment.
 Protection by non conducting location
 Protection by earth-free local
equipotential bonding.
 Protection by electrical separation
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Automatic Disconnection Of A
TT System

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Class II Equipment

 No conductive parts
of a class II appliance
must be connected to
a protective
conductor:
 A simple example is
that of drawing a
cable into a PVC
conduit.

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Earth-Free Equipotential
Bonding

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Electrical Separation- Shaver
Socket Outlet

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Protection By Interposition
Of Obstacles
 measure can only
be applied in a dry
location

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c) Earthing
 Connect all extraneous conductive parts of
the premises to the main earthing terminal
of the electrical installation
 Extraneous conductive parts include
water/gas/service pipes, ducting, heating
and air conditioning equipment, metallic
structural parts, etc.
 Protection achieved by use of overcurrent
protective devices i.e. fuses, circuit
breakers, residual current devices.
 Maintenance of earth continuity is very vital.

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Earthing Connections

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Supplementary
Equipotential Earthing

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Reduced Voltage
 Most commonly used is the 110 volt centre
point earthed system. The centre point of
the secondary winding of the transformer
providing the 110 volt supply is centre
tapped to earth.
 At no point of the 110 volt circuit can the
voltage to earth exceed 55 volts.
 Can be provided by means of small
portable and mobile generator sets.

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Extra Low Voltage
 Normally not exceeding 50 V a.c. or 120 V
ripple free d.c.
 SELV(50V) for swimming pools &
amusement parks
 FELV(=<50V) for relays & contactors
 PELV(25V rms) for safety in high risk
locations

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Unsafe Acts In The House
 Replacing fuses with wire or cigarette
aluminum foils.
 Tieing or holding switches that keep
tripping, to maintain them in the on position.
 Handling/using electrical appliances while
bathing/wet.
 Relying on cheaper “bush” electricians for
repairs.
 Unplugging appliances by pulling at the
cable.
 Supplying power to several appliances using
one plug.
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Safe Acts In The House
 Switch off appliances not being used and plug
the socket off
 Use approved adapters.
 Ensure cables are of the right size and
length.
 When entering a flooded room, be sure the
water is not in contact with a source of
electricity.
 Disconnect appliance cords at the wall
outlets and not at the appliances.
 Whenever in doubt, switch off.

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PORTABLE ELECTRIC
TOOLS/EQUIPMENT
 They should be provided with contact voltage
protection as highlighted above.
 Residual Current Devices (Earth Leakage
Protective Devices) can give additional
protection where tools and equipment are
used at mains voltage.
 Provision of an isolator within 20 metres of
the worker using the tool.
 Damaged cables should be replaced/repaired
without delay.
 Routine inspection and maintenance.
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MAINTENACE OF
ELECTRICAL MACHINERY
 Switch off power to the machine in question.
 Lock off the switch wherever a locking-off
device is fitted.
 Place a danger notice on the switch.
 Check/confirm that the switches chosen
were the right ones.
 Before switching on, ensure no person is in
the danger zone.
 Never wedge, tie or override electrical
switch gear.
 Report immediately any faults & provide
safety measure until fault is rectified.
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PERMIT TO WORK SYSTEMS
This should incorporate the following clearly
defined stages;
 Comprehensive assessment of the work to
be done.
 Withdrawal of plant/equipment from
service.
 Physical, electrical and/or mechanical
isolation of the plant.
 Completion of work and return to service.

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STATIC ELECTRICITY
Generation
 Generated when two dissimilar surfaces
come together and are separated.
 Insulators such as plastics are responsible
for trapping the charges.
 The electric field so created is mostly a
nuisance.
 If sufficiently high charges develop, they can
cause electric shocks or spark ignition of
flammable gases.

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Static Electricity cont’d
Safety Measures
 Earthing
 Earthing of persons
 Using vessels or apparatus made of
conductive materials.
 Electrostatic eliminators.

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LIGHTNING
Creation
 Lightning charges are build up in
thunderstorm clouds
 Lightning itself is in actual fact the
electrical discharge which takes place
between these two opposite charges.
 Flashes of discharge may be within a
cloud, from cloud-to-cloud or from cloud-
to-ground.
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Lightning cont’d
Effect on Humans can be
 Fatal
 electric shock
 Burns
 Tearing of the flesh due to the
explosive action of discharge.

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Lightning cont’d
On hearing the rumble of thunder, persons should
seek shelter under cover listed hereunder in order
of priority:-
 Reinforced concrete buildings, steel framed
structures, metal-roofed buildings, buildings with
lightning conductors.
 Buildings with continuously bonded metal gutters
and down-pipers.
 Large unprotected buildings.
 Cluster of trees or wood.
Large caves.

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Lightning Back Current

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Lightning Protection

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ELECTRICAL SHOCK,
ELECTROCUTION

The human body acts as a volume

conductor and hence offers little
electrical resistance. Most of the
resistance is in fact in the skin. It is
quite essential to note that the “let go”
current of a conductor held in the hand
is usually not more than 1mA. Currents
above this letter are therefore quite
hazardous if not deadly.
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Electrical Shock,
Electrocution cont’d

Seriousness of Electric Shock

This is dependent on;
 Body Electrical Resistance
 Path of current flow through body
 Amount of current and duration of current
flow
 Amount of current and duration of current
flow
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Electrical Shock,
Electrocution cont’d

Concepts of Electrical Shock

 Asphyxia
 Respiratory Arrest
 Ventricular Fibrillation

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Typical Responses to
Current/voltage
Voltage Response Current
15 V Threshold of feeling 0.002-0.005A
20-25V Threshold of pain -
30V Muscular spasm(non- 0.015A
release)
70V Minimum for death 0.1A
120V Maximum for safety 0.002A
200-240V Most serious/fatal 0.2A
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PPC/E FOR ELECTRICAL
WORK

This shall include among others;

 Insulated tools
 Insulating material for covering live parts of
equipment and floors at fixed electrical
machinery/equipment
 Rubber gloves and rubber boots.
 Non conductive head gear
 
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FIRST-AID RULES
 Make sure its safe to approach by switching
off current wherever possible.
 If switch is not readily accessible then pull
off victim using a suitable length of dry non-
conducting material
 Check for breathing
 If victim is breathing, place him/her in a
recovery position and call for medical
attention.
 If not then render artificial respiration

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Summary
Protective measures are mostly preventive,
but experience has shown that they are not
infallible due to among others;
 Lack of proper maintenance
 Imprudence, carelessness
 Normal (or abnormal) wear and tear
 Accidental contact
 Immersion in water, etc. A situation in
which insulation is no longer effective
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SUMMARY
Electrical accidents
are caused mostly
through human error
such as;
 negligence or
carelessness
 Forgetfulness
 Experimenting
 Taking short cuts
 Selfishness
 Ignorance.
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Summary cont’d
 The fundamental principle of electrical safety
is to use as low voltages as possible
 Where the use of extra low voltage is not
practicable, abundant methods of rendering
the equipment safe, do exist.
 Electrical accidents are minimal but fatalities
are highly likely.
 If corectly used, electricity is one of the
safest forms of energy available to man.

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