Working on or near electricity is a significant danger to workers. According to the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI), in 2020, 5.3% of all electrical incidents were fatal. Since May is National Electrical Safety Month, this article reviews some common dangers electrical workers face. 

One small mistake can have dire consequences. Mislabeled circuits, damaged cords and rushed tie-ins are all serious daily threats. The challenge is not that the industry lacks safety rules, it’s that hazards appear in familiar ways, day after day, and drive complacency.

Some of the most common electrical hazards workers face include contact with overhead and buried power lines; falsely assuming equipment is de-energized; arc flash and arc blast; defective cords, plugs and temporary power; wet conditions and the presence of moisture; ground faults and improper grounding; and working at heights. Staying vigilant and adhering to proper safety protocols can mitigate and prevent most accidents from occurring.

Encounters with a live line

One of the most significant and deadly electrical hazards is encountering a live line overhead or below ground. The risk is not limited to lineworkers. These lines can be struck by lifts, ladders, scaffolding, long conduit runs, cranes, excavation equipment and even hand tools in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Overhead and buried power lines are hazardous due to their high voltage. Contact can lead to electrocution, burns and secondary falls when working overhead. ESFI’s workplace fatality summaries repeatedly identify overhead power line contact as the leading cause of workplace electrical fatalities. 

In an effort to avoid contact, lines should always be treated as if they’re live unless verified otherwise. Additionally, workers should know minimum approach distances and enforce them with spotters; plan picks, lifts and material staging so nothing swings into the line envelope; and confirm locate markings before digging or excavating.

Assuming that parts and electrical components are de-energized is another common cause of electrical injuries. Thinking that a panel is dead or a circuit is properly labeled, or saying, “it’s just low-voltage,” can be a dangerous mistake. 

Electrocution hazards show up whenever energized parts are accessible, controls are bypassed or circuits are not verified. Workers can protect themselves by de-energizing whenever possible, employing lockout/tagout protocols (not relying on a verbal handoff), verifying the absence of voltage with a properly rated meter and ensuring meters are functioning as they should. Workers should also control the work area so nobody can re-­energize or assist midtask.

Arc flash safety

Electrical workers are familiar with the gruesome and deadly potential presented by arc flash and arc blast threats. While shock hazards get a lot of attention, arc events change lives, if the worker survives. Equipment failure, loose connections, improper racking, dropped tools, incorrect fusing or working on circuits with unknown incident energy can all cause arc flash.

As a result, NFPA 70E, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace, defines electrical hazards as including conditions where contact or equipment failure can result in shock, arc flash burn or other serious harm. It also emphasizes risk assessment and protective strategies. (For more on updates to the 2027 70E, turn to page 38.)

Additionally, the Center for Construction Research and Training has research summaries available to reinforce the importance of arc flash/blast contributing significantly to electrical injuries, even if electrocution remains the leading cause of electrical fatalities. 

Employers can reduce the likelihood of an arc flash or blast event from occurring through several methods, including implementing an arc flash risk assessment program; maintaining gear, tightening loose lugs, replacing missing hardware, and addressing contamination and moisture; and matching PPE to the hazard, but only as the last line of defense, not the primary mitigation strategy. Additionally, employers must require workers to keep covers on when work is done. Far too many incidents can be attributed to trying to make tasks easier by taking covers off.

Temporary power

Temporary power is another common pathway to shock events on construction sites because it is mobile, handled constantly and often exposed to abuse. Cuts, crushed insulation, missing ground pins, tape repairs and improvised adapters show up on jobs far more than they should. 

To minimize an incident involving temporary power, workers should inspect cords and plugs before use, remove damaged items from service immediately, use the proper cord and rating for the environments they’re used in, and avoid daisy-­chaining power strips or extension cords to prevent overloading conductors. This is where safety culture shows itself. Workers that treat cord inspection as a daily habit are usually the ones that catch other hazards early.

Wet conditions

Wet conditions and the presence of moisture can exacerbate electrical hazards. Wet conditions significantly increase the risk of shock, electrocution, arc flash and equipment failure. Electrical work performed in wet or moist environments requires heightened awareness, planning and controls. Unfortunately, many incidents still occur because wet-condition hazards are underestimated or accepted as “part of the job.”

In an effort to reduce incidents from occurring in wet or moisture-­dense environments, workers should use GFCI protection when conditions warrant, keep connections out of puddles and off the ground, elevate temporary power and protect it from washdown or rain exposure, and stop and reassess when water intrusion reaches panels, boxes or cord ends.

Ground faults

Ground faults and insufficient grounding are an additional significant common electrical hazard. Ground faults are said to be the most common type of electrical fault and responsible for 70% to 80% of all faults in power systems. It is estimated that roughly 14% of electrical fatalities can be attributed to improper or inadequate grounding. These hazards are also a leading cause of all electrical injuries. Therefore, it is critical that workers and employers know the dangers associated with improper and insufficient grounding.

Initially, an effective ground-fault current path needs to be established to make an electrical system safe. This means there is creation of a low-impedance, electrically conductive path to enable the overcurrent protective device to operate. The path must have the ability to safely carry the maximum anticipated ground-fault current within an electrical wiring system where a ground fault may occur. 

Look out for missing ground pins, bootleg grounds, unbonded metallic parts and equipment that trips intermittently. Be vigilant about verification and correction, because the failure mode often shows up when a worker becomes the unintended path.

Secondary falls

When a shock startles a worker on a ladder, lift or stool, it can quickly turn into a fall. OSHA’s electrical incident guidance explicitly calls out falls as a secondary hazard when contact occurs. To minimize electrical exposure when working at an elevation, workers can use positioning and fall protection and should keep material handling organized and awkward movement or loss of control to a minimum.

Complacency

One of the most dangerous hazards is the slow creep of shortcuts becoming normal. Being complacent and skipping verification, rushing lockout/tagout, working “hot” because shutdowns are inconvenient or ignoring little things such as heat, smell, nuisance trips or discoloration cause far too many injuries. 

Employers can’t remove schedule pressure, but they can eliminate the idea that the schedule overrides the hazard. If safety is optional when production tightens, it will fail exactly when it is needed most.

Employers can make sure that pretask planning is specific; establish verification culture where absence of voltage must be proven; instill good housekeeping habits and cord discipline; provide task-specific training; and maintain and inspect equipment, gear and protective devices regularly. They can also implement near-miss reporting that is rewarded, not punished.

Common electrical hazards are entrenched in everyday tasks. Power lines, energized parts, arc flash, temporary power, wet conditions and grounding issues are not occasional or passing risks. They are routine. 

Safety in electrical work is about vigilance and redundancy. Do the basics relentlessly: plan the work, de-energize, verify, control the area, maintain equipment, use protection correctly and stop when conditions change. Get everyone home safely at the end of the day.

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