Electric Shock and Burn— The Case of the Open Electrical Control Panel P O W E R P O I N T ® T R A I N I N G Change notes pg #1. Handout document is not customizable word doc. Target Audience: This training session deals with the hazards of electricity, specifically, an open electrical control panel. It is appropriate for any employees—qualified and unqualified—who may come into contact with electrical parts during their daily activities. Learning Objectives: This session covers the hazards of working with electricity and ways to prevent those hazards. It can be used as part of a complete training session on either the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Electrical Standard, or in conjunctions with a Control of Hazardous Energy training session. It can also be used as refresher training. Background for the Trainer: This training session presents a case study of an actual accident inspected and documented by OSHA. The case presented in this training session is: Accident: 000998187 – Electric Shock and Burn – Direct Contact With Live Parts Report ID: 0552700 Inspection: 107802332 You may choose to present this training information in a lecture format, or make the training presentation interactive by engaging your class in discussions that will help them identify facts of the case, potential causes of the accident, and future accident prevention measures. In either case, students will benefit by learning from a real-life scenario. Before beginning your training session, print and make copies of the one-page Case Study Student Handout, which is provided on the disc. The Case Study Student Handout can be used as a worksheet during the training session, or as a take-away reminder once the training session is complete. Also, print and make copies of the Case Study Quiz, which is provided on the disc as a fully customizable Word document. The students can take the quiz at the end of the training session in order to help reinforce the information presented. Note that the same quiz is included at the end of this PowerPoint presentation. Consider taking pictures of electrical control panels in your workplace. You can add these pictures to the presentation by inserting them into existing slides or creating new slides. Speaker’s Notes: Welcome everyone. Today we will conduct a Case Study of an actual accident investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This is an actual tragic workplace accident that had real-life implications for the worker, the worker’s family, co-workers, and the employer. The Case Study may be disturbing and may even involve a fatality. The objective of this session is to learn from this accident and take steps to prevent a similar accident from changing our lives. The purpose of this training session is to teach and reinforce the importance of electrical safety in your workplace in order to prevent tragic accidents. Electric Shock and Burn— The Case of the Open Electrical Control Panel 11016915 ©2003

Let’s Look at the Hazards Electrical shock can cause: Pain Loss of muscle control/coordination Internal bleeding Nerve, muscle, tissue damage Cardiac arrest Death Speaker’s Notes: Shock occurs when you touch a live wire—or a tool or machine part with poor insulation—and the ground. You are, in effect, becoming a conductor—the shock you feel is the electrical current running through your body. Shock can cause symptoms that range from mild to severe. They include: Pain Loss of muscle control/coordination Internal bleeding Nerve, muscle, tissue damage Cardiac arrest, and even Death The longer you’re in contact with live electricity, the greater the damage to your body. And, it doesn’t take a large amount to hurt you—as little as 50 milliamperes (mA), just one-third the amount of electricity used to power a transistor radio, is enough to cause death. As little as 50 milliamperes (one-third the electricity needed to power a radio) can cause death!

Take a Look at the Facts Employee is operating a tilt-pot, iron-melting furnace Furnace controls mounted on enclosed pedestal Tilt-pot lever will not engage—broken cotter pin Background for the Trainer: Pass out the Case Study Student Handout. You may have the students read the accident description to themselves before discussing it in the class, or you may use the bullet points on the slide and the speaker’s notes below to describe the accident. Speaker’s Notes: The employee in this case is working as a furnace tender and operating the controls on an inductive, tilt-pot, iron-melting furnace. The controls for the furnace are mounted on an enclosed pedestal. The tilt-pot control lever will not engage because of a broken cotter pin, a problem that has happened many times in the past.

Take a Look at the Facts (cont.) Employee opens console to replace cotter pin Employee has performed this procedure many times Console can be de-energized separately from the furnace Speaker’s Notes: The employee removes the screws and the side of the console in order to open the console and replace the cotter pin. The operator has performed this procedure many times before. The operator did not know that the electrical power for the control console could be de-energized separately from the furnace. He did not have to de-energize the entire furnace in order to de-energize the control console.

Take a Look at the Facts (cont.) He reaches into console to replace pin Employee slips, falls against 120-volt terminal Employee gets electric shock & burns to shoulder Speaker’s Notes: He reaches up into the control console in an attempt to replace the cotter pin. As he reached up, his foot slips. He falls against a 120-volt terminal board. He receives an electric shock and burns to the shoulder. He was taken to the hospital, where he was treated and then released.

What Do You Think Went Wrong? Could the employee easily access the inside of the console? Did complacency have anything to do with the incident? Why was the employee not aware that the console could be de-energized separately? Were safety procedures ignored or overlooked? Is it ever okay to reach into an electrical panel? Background for the Trainer: Use the questions on this slide to elicit discussion. Training options: After reviewing this slide and the accident description, give the class 5 to 10 minutes to discuss the accident description in small groups, or ask the students to try to determine some of the facts, potential causes, and possible prevention measures. In either case, use the Case Study Student Handout as a way to encourage discussion as you go through this presentation. Speaker’s Notes: Let’s take a few minutes and, using the Case Study Student Handout, work in groups to try to determine the facts of the accident, potential causes of the accident, and possible prevention measures. Then we will review the Case Study together in class. Consider some of the questions on this slide when discussing the Case Study in your groups.

Let’s Review the Causes Broken cotter pin Over-confident employee Console easy to open Lockout procedures not in place or employee not trained Employee reached into “live” electrical panel Slippery floor Background for the Trainer: When investigating accidents and trying to determine potential causes, it is very important not to just blame the injured worker or stop the investigation when an obvious cause is discovered. Dig deeper and determine if underlying system factors contributed to the obvious cause. Quite often there are underlying reasons that contribute to a worker committing an unsafe act. Other issues to consider when investigating accidents might include: training, written procedures, machinery not operating properly, tools or personal protective equipment not readily available, pressure from management to speed up production, etc. Speaker’s Notes: The broken cotter pin was one of the primary causes of this accident. This pin, which is needed to engage the tilt-pot lever, had broken a number of times. Each time the pin breaks, an employee is exposed to the live electrical parts inside the control panel when he reaches inside to replace the pin. Since the pin had a history of breaking, something should have been done to prevent the pin from breaking or to make it safe to replace the pin. The lever might be re-designed so it no longer needs a cotter pin or it has a stronger cotter pin. The lever could also be moved to another location so that the operator does not have to reach inside the control panel to replace the pin. The employee was over-confident. He had done this job a number of times and had not been injured. This unsafe behavior was reinforced when he was able to repair his equipment without being injured. Over time, he probably began to think that reaching into the electrical panel was a perfectly acceptable and safe operating practice. The electrical panel console was too easy to open. The employee just had to remove several screws to remove the side of the console. Since the employee had done this quite a few times, the side of the console was probably held on with only one to two screws just to make removing the panel even easier when the cotter pin broke again. Electrical panels should be difficult to open to prevent easy access. Special tools should be required to gain entry. The employee did not know that the console could be de-energized separately from the furnace. Either the employer did not have lockout procedures in place or the employer did not train employees on lockout procedures. The employer may also have limited lockout training to maintenance employees, which means the employer should have procedures in place that prevent machine operators from accessing electrical control panels. Another primary cause is that the employee reached into the “live” electrical panel. If he had not reached into the panel, he would not have been injured. It is important to try to determine why the employee felt compelled to reach into the panel. He may have wanted to keep production going and, against company policy, reached into the panel. Sometimes, company culture may even encourage employees to take risks, such as reaching into a “live” electrical control console. This worker has performed this job a number of times. The reason he contacted the “live” parts this time and not any of the other times was because his foot slipped and he fell into the parts. The slippery floor is a minor contributor to the injury. However, the area should be evaluated for slip protection. Can you think of any other causes that may have contributed to this accident?

The Hazards of Electricity 1 mA: Felt by the body 2-10 mA: Minor shock, may cause a fall 10-25 mA: Lose muscle control, may not be able to let go of the current 25-75 mA: Painful, leads to collapse or death 75-300 mA: Almost always immediately fatal Speaker’s Notes: Many people assume that the electrical voltage is what injures or kills a person, when, in fact, it is the amperage that injures and kills. Amperage is determined by voltage and resistance. When voltage goes up, amperage goes up. When resistance goes up, amperage goes down. Here’s the formula: Amperage = (Voltage)/(Resistance). The human body has a certain amount of natural resistance. Resistance can be increased by wearing insulated gloves and boots, and by using insulated tools. Even low-voltage electricity can cause severe damage. A typical home circuit carries 120 volts of electricity. For the average person with 2000 ohms of resistance, this will result in the person being struck by 60 mA (1-1,000th of an amp). Using the information on this slide, you can see that even the seemingly low voltage at home can be extremely dangerous. Even 1 mA can be felt by the human body. 2-10 mA can result in a minor shock. What if this person was working on an elevated platform without proper fall protection? This minor shock could cause the person to fall from the elevation and be seriously injured or killed. At 10-25 mA, the person may lose muscle control and may not be able to release or let go of the circuit. This situation is especially dangerous if there are no other employees in the area that can break the circuit (remember, never touch a person that is being shocked; use a piece of nonconducting wood to pry them away from the electrical current). 25-75 mA is painful and may lead to collapse or even death. The longer the person is exposed to this electrical current, the more likely death will occur. 75-300 mA for even a quarter of a second is almost always immediately fatal. Death is often the result of ventricular fibrillation (twitching heart).

Qualified Electrical Workers Are permitted to work on exposed energized equipment Know how to identify exposed energized parts Know how to troubleshoot energized parts Unqualified workers should know How electricity works Risks of working with energized equipment Tasks to be performed only by qualified workers Background for the Trainer: Bring your company’s written plan or program for training qualified and unqualified workers for the employees to review or discuss. Identify the qualified workers in your company (i.e., electricians, maintenance). Speaker’s Notes: OSHA has divided workers into two categories when it comes to working on or with electrical equipment. Qualified workers are allowed to work on or near exposed energized equipment. They receive additional detailed training that includes: How to identify exposed electrical equipment and energized parts How to lockout or tagout equipment so it can be worked on safely How to safely work on or troubleshoot electrical equipment and parts Unqualified workers are not permitted to work on or near exposed energized equipment. They receive some basic training regarding electricity, which includes: How electricity works The risks of working with energized equipment and how electricity can contact and harm the human body Which tasks can only be performed by a qualified worker How to identify potential electrical hazards and how to use equipment and machinery that is powered by electricity.

Don’t Let it Happen to You Report machine malfunctions Never open a “live” electrical panel Never reach into an electrical panel If trained, use lockout to de-energize the equipment Re-evaluate your job practices Speaker’s Notes: Let’s take a look at what we can do to prevent a similar incident from happening at our facility. If your machine malfunctions, report it to your supervisor immediately. Do not take unsafe steps to repair your equipment – especially if you are required to reach into an electrical panel to make the repair. Never open a “live” electrical panel. Keep all doors and access panels closed. If you discover an open panel, report it to your supervisor. Never reach into an electrical panel. Only trained maintenance workers or electricians may do this. If your employer has trained and authorized you to perform lockout/tagout on your machine as well as maintenance work, then make sure all sources of electrical energy are controlled per your employer’s lockout/tagout program before doing any type of maintenance work. Re-evaluate your job practices. Are you in the habit of working unsafely around electrical equipment? Do you open electrical control panels to “reset” equipment or make other adjustments during production? If so, you may need to be retrained on working safely around electricity.

Quiz 1. The dangerous part of electricity is the voltage. True or False 2. Only _______ workers are allowed to work on or near exposed electrical components. 3. Electrical shock from a 120-volt circuit will expose the average person to how many mA? 4. Electrical panels should be easy to open and very accessible. True or False Background for the Trainer: Remind employees that the quiz is to encourage further discussion and to help you, the trainer, be sure that everyone understands what was discussed. Print copies of the quiz for participants to take on their own, or go over the questions as part of the training session.

Quiz (cont.) 5. When is it OK for a machine operator to reach into a “live” electrical panel? 6. What should a qualified worker do to make it safe to reach into an electrical panel? 7. How can a qualified electrical worker increase his or her resistance to electricity? 8. Unqualified workers must be trained to identify electrical hazards. True or False

Quiz Answers 1. Q. The dangerous part of electricity is the voltage. True or False A. False, the amperage is the dangerous part of electricity. 2. Q. Only _______workers are allowed to work on or near exposed electrical components. A. Qualified.

Quiz Answers (cont.) 3. Q. Electrical shock from a 120-volt circuit will expose the average person to how many mA? A. 60 mA. 4. Q. Electrical panels should be easy to open and very accessible. True or False A. False, panels should be difficult to open. 5. Q. When is it OK for a machine operator to reach into a “live” electrical panel? A. Never.

Quiz Answers (cont.) 6. Q. What should a qualified worker do to make it safe to reach into an electrical panel? A. Lock out the electricity from the panel. 7. Q. How can a qualified electrical worker increase his or her resistance to electricity? A. Wear insulated gloves and boots, use insulated tools, and stand on an insulated mat.

Quiz Answers (cont.) 8. Q. Unqualified workers must be trained to identify electrical hazards. True or False A. True, it is important for all workers to be able to identify electrical hazards.