FYI _______________________________________________________________________________ To: Multiple recipients of list SAFETY From: Safety on Tue, May 28, 1996 7:38 AM Subject: Re: Electrical Safety
From: "ht11081" <[email protected]> Organization: www.cedarnet.org List-Post: [email protected] Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 11:19:55 -0500 Subject: Re: Electrical Safety >Electrical safety is not my strong suit. Our agency receives donated >electrical appliances which are then sold to the public. We want to write >some policy and procedures for testing the appliances. Does anyone have any >guidelines about testing for defects, the use of GFI's, and the need for a >grounding rubber mat. >Thanks. usual disclaimers There are two aspects that you need to look at. One aspect is the safety of your employees via osha regulations. This would make rubber mats a wise idea. Installing GFI would also alert the employee to the fact he is working on a potentially hazardous piece of equiptment. I would establish a procedure to check for direct shorts to the case of the device with an ohmeter after a no power physical inspection. If the product metered high resistance to ground/case using hi ohms on the meter plugging your product into the GFI would alert your employee that a ground fault current exists. Desktops should be insulated for employee safety. Repair of the equiptment with power on should be avoided unless employees have been properly trained and adjustments or repairs cannot be made with power off. Check the OSHA standards for electrical repair with power on for this, training and proper procedure are the primary determinants. I would recommend against any power on repairs in a primary training environment. The above paragraph was primarily for the safety of your employees, naturally you will want to ensure your customers recieve absolutely safe equiptment. Rotating equiptment such as drills should have brushes checked, windings for physical damage, and carbon dust blown out. (carbon dust can become a very nice conductor in damp air and cause GFI trips). Items with heating elements should NOT have the elements spliced at breaks but recieve new elements. All insulators should be mechanically tight without cracks or breaks. As a rule EVERYTHING MUST PASS the GFI test to ensure customer safety, if it can't pass the GFI throw it out.! You might check with the local IBEW in your area and see if they would be willing to help you establish procedures and give a little free advice... HT Harold Tuchel 1040 Fleur Dr Waterloo Ia 50701 NAFTA No American Factories Taking Applications
