Measures and means of protection against electric shock

Electric shock - this phenomenon has been introduced to us from a very early age by a school textbook on Belarusian Railways. And absolutely right. After all, this is one of the greatest dangers that lies in wait not only for an electrician in the process of work or a worker in production, but for any other person at home. Therefore, it is extremely important to learn as much information as possible about measures to protect against electric shock and what to do if an accident has already occurred. There is a lot of information on the Internet about measures and means of protection against electric shock. Nevertheless, despite this, most people are not familiar with this topic. In general, people tend to endanger themselves because of laziness or incorrect interpretation of the rules of behavior when working, at home or when fixing tools that work under stress. All this leads to a high risk of injury, so you should not neglect your safety.

The basics

First of all, you must have information on how to prevent electric shock. To do this, make sure of the following:

• the insulation of the wiring is intact and in good condition;
• equipment or wiring have protective earth;
• no access to live parts;
• portable tools, equipment are powered by low voltage;
• as an additional measure, differential protection devices, for example, residual current circuit breakers (RCD).

Also, a very effective way will be the use of personal protective equipment such as rubber gloves and shoes when working with wiring and maintenance of electrical equipment. It may not be very convenient, but effective from the point of view of electrical safety.

Prevention in the home

If we analyze the measures, means and methods of protection against electric shock in everyday life - here we can distinguish several main points:

• in no case do self-repair of electrical appliances, wiring in the absence of appropriate skills or when applying voltage to the device, wiring;
• Do not use faulty electrical appliances, sockets;
• Do not touch exposed areas in case of insulation damage.

Production Prevention

In the case of production at enterprises, factories, factories, it will not be enough to hang a sign prohibiting animals in workrooms. It is important here to conduct regular scheduled staff briefings on measures against electric shock. One briefing per year will not be enough, as a person has the ability to forget information and be distracted. In addition, it is necessary to monitor the status of the main wiring, wiring equipment and tools in production.And it is important to remember that the safety of personnel is the work of not only the personnel themselves, but also the management, because most often cases of electric shock occur precisely in the manufacturing sector.

One of the most common causes of failure is human negligence and carelessness. In this case, a person may know the measures against electric shock, but this information is not taken seriously, which causes industrial injuries and death.

Also, negligence can be traced by the administration of the enterprise where the victim works. And if such an incident occurred during the work at the factory, the responsibility for the incident will rest with the leadership of the organization in which the victim worked. And this is done for a reason. Labor protection legislation thus encourages enterprise management to devote more time to the issue of worker safety.

For the prevention of electric shock, there are basic and additional regulatory documents. In the case of measures to protect against electricity will be useful: "GOST IEC 61140-2012 Protection against electric shock ”,“ GOST 12.4.124 Means of protection against static electricity ”and“ GOST R EN 1149-5-2008 Special protective clothing ”, PTEEP, PBEEP, PUE. These documents are very short, but at the same time they contain the basic methods of protection that you need to know to effectively use measures, means and methods of protection against electric shock. For example, GOST ІЕС 61140-2012 is one of the main documents containing the rules for the technical operation of electrical installations of consumers. These rules must be known not only because they are part of the exam for a group, but also because they explain the user's responsibilities, operating procedures and types of electrical installations.

It is equally important to remember what collective protection measures are in place. They are to create conditions in which there is no access to live parts under voltage. To do this, use protective, signaling, blocking devices and safety signs.

To prevent an emergency, one of the main measures is protective grounding and protective grounding:

• grounding - the connection of the metal parts of the installation with the ground;
• grounding - the connection of the wiring to the neutral protective conductor, which disconnects the damaged part of the network.

It is also important to remember that it can be hit by electricity when touched indirectly. An indirect touch is a contact with an open conductive part of the installation or equipment, which is de-energized in normal operation, but due to some factors it turned out to be energized. This phenomenon is especially dangerous when a person contacts a unit without grounding, because in this case the outcome of accidental contact can become fatal. Therefore, do not forget about such things as grounding and grounding in electrical installations.

You can read more about the protective measures for indirect contact in the article we published earlier - https://our.electricianexp.com/en/mery-zashhity-pri-kosvennom-prikosnovenii.html

The main thing that any leader should remember - in order to prevent accidents, protection from electric shock you can not save on equipment of electricians, welders and other workers. All necessary technical measures must be taken to avoid accidents.

What to do in case of electric shock

No less important than the methods of protection will be the algorithm of actions in case of an electric shock. Namely, such measures:

1. It is necessary to completely turn off the power. If this is impossible to do on your own, you need to call the emergency service.
2. Ensuring complete safety, if necessary, transfer the victim to another place.
3. It is necessary to assess the condition of the victim according to the ABCD, BLS algorithm, then these algorithms will be analyzed.
4. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, if such measures are necessary.
5. Venous catheter placement, infusion therapy.
6. Measures to transport the victim to the hospital.

It is imperative to remember that with an indirect or direct touch of an affected person, electricity will also affect the person who touched. Therefore, in no case should you touch the victim until the moment when the supply of electricity to the object that the victim touches stops.

Now it’s worth parsing ABCD and BLS algorithms:

• ABCD - a process in which the patient's vital signs are checked: the state of the respiratory tract, breathing, blood circulation, decreased level of consciousness;
• BLS - assessment of the respiratory status of the victim, measures for cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

So, summing up, we can conclude that in most cases a person exposes himself to danger by ignorance of measures, means, ways of protection against electricity. And the main rule that must be observed is not to neglect safety rules, information that can protect you from an accident, and observe safety precautions.

By the way, on the our.electricianexp website you can pass a test for knowledge of electrical safety rules on 2, 3, 4 and 5 admission groups. (each digit is a link to a separate test).

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• What protective equipment should be equipped with electrical installations
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• First Aid Rules for Electric Shock