Electrical safety
| For more information on Electricity click here for the relevant chapter of the TUC guide to health and safety "Hazards at Work |
According to the Health and Safety Executive, each year there are around 1,000 work accidents involving electric shock or burns. Around 30 of these are fatal. Most fatalities arise from contact with overhead or underground cables.
The passage of electric current through the body may cause muscular contractions, respiratory failure, fibrillation of the heart, cardiac arrest or injury from burns.
Non-fatal shocks can cause severe or permanent injury. Shocks from electrical installations or equipment may lead to falls from heights. Electrical workers are not the only workers at risk; any workers using poorly installed or faulty appliances are at risk from shocks or fires.
The main hazards are from contact with live parts, fires and explosion. Risk of injury is higher when the working environment is wet, outdoors or cramped. The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require precautions to be taken against the risk of death or injury from electricity during work at or near electrical systems.
Links
Electricity at Work Regulations 1989
The most recent documents available on this subject are:
Magnetic fields linked to rail cancers
Railway workers exposed to extremely low frequency magnetic fields have an elevated risk of certain blood cancers, new study findings suggest.
PDF version available for download
1 June 2007
Police probe into young worker electrocution
Police and safety experts are investigating how a scaffolder was electrocuted while working on a London council estate.
PDF version available for download
29 September 2006
Football club fined £4,000 over death of trainee player
Falkirk Football Club has been fined £4,000 following the death of an apprentice player, who was electrocuted when training equipment he was carrying touched an overhead power cable
18 November 2005
London seeks to lead Britain in the challenge to secure better health and safety at work
A world class city must have world class workplaces, that means aspiring to and achieving world class standards of health and safety at work – not for some, but for all. And the roadmap for turning that dream into a reality includes there being a health and safety rep in every workplace in London and a positive and meaningful partnership between that rep, the employer, unions and the Health and Safety Executive. Those are the key messages from an event (today) organised by HSE London and the Southern and Eastern Region TUC for more than 200 London based health and safety reps.
19 November 2004
Electrical safety information sheet
This is one of a series of information sheets on construction. It covers electrical safety and tells you what you can do about it.
27 September 2004
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