Switchboard Safety

Queensland’s Electrical Safety office is reminding electrical workers to hold out a risk assessment before removing switchboard panels. If staff determine any hazards, they must place management measures in place to deal with the risk of electrical shock, explosion or fire.

Electrical staff are injured after they have removed switchboard escutcheon panels from an energised switchboard. As they have removed panels, electrical cables within the switchboard became dislodged, leading to an arc flash and causing severe burns.

Electrical safety laws veto work on energised electrical equipment unless:

• it is necessary in the interests of health and safety that the electrical work is assigned whereas the instrumentality is energised (for example, it may be necessary for delivery instrumentality to stay energised and operating whereas electrical work is assigned on the equipment)
• it is necessary that the electrical equipment to be worked on is energised in order for the work to be applied properly
• it is necessary for the needs of testing to make sure the instrumentality is de-energized
• there is no affordable alternative suggests that of completing the work.

Electrical workers must not ever work on energised electrical equipment simply because it's more convenient. The Electrical Safety office is reminding workers to think about their atmosphere and also the nature of work they'reactivity. If operating with a high fault level, workers should take into account putting the highest measures of controls in place — which might be to eliminate the hazard altogether and de-energize the switchboard.

If workers were working on a switchboard supplied by a 500 kVA transformer, the fault level would be near 14,000 A, which could result in an arc flash with temperatures of 19,400°C. In this circumstance the risks of working near the live parts can be just as dangerous as the live work itself, and you should de-energize the switchboard before starting work.