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Many people don’t take the steps to implement
consistent ESWP – until they have personally

been impacted by a terrible electrical incident.

experienced some significant “near Furthermore, from my experiences as a exponentially depending on the type
misses,” they continue to “do business as service electrician, site foreman, and an of facility, operational need, customer
usual” and fail to implement ESWP. electrician instructor – I believe that a true requirements, the age and type of
reckoning comes down to two critical, equipment, and the consequential
So, what needs to happen (to us, a very personal, “life” matters: failures of other affected equipment and
coworker or friend, our business) before • The devastation of a life-threatening or systems, etc.
we personally choose to seriously face the fatal incident – whether experienced by
real, life changing consequences that can us personally or by someone that we I don’t believe that we need to experience
occur due to casual thinking with regard know who is (or was) very close to us. one of these types of deep, personal losses
to the genuine electrical hazards we face before we can embrace the value and need
in our workplaces and what we should be Or, to implement well developed ESWP.
doing to avoid those hazards? • A life-shattering financial tragedy that
• Is it because we don’t really take the results from a catastrophic electrical Our nation’s largest electrical contractors
time to identify the hazards? equipment or system failure. For have implemented extensive, well written,
example, when “live work” is done IIPPs and ESPs as part of their overall
• Do we truly understand the degree of needlessly (in lieu of scheduling a safety program.
the hazards we encounter and the risks shutdown) and a tool or loose part
we are taking? So how did they get there? Didn’t they
inadvertently makes cross-phase
• Is it that we don’t know the most effective contact which destroys the electrical have to start somewhere?
techniques to eliminate those hazards? equipment and causes an unscheduled
electrical shut down. Such a shutdown, How are they still able to run profitable
It’s truly unfortunate that, statistically, due to the complexity of the installation electrical businesses and implement well-
many people don’t take the steps to and/or the availability of replacement established electrical safety work practices?
implement consistent ESWP – until they equipment, can take weeks, or months
have personally been impacted by a before the system can be restored to full There are plenty of resources to help us
terrible electrical incident. operation. The financial fallout can grow establish an ESP and ESWP electrical
safety related work practice. OSHA and the
NFPA 70E give detailed explanations on
how to address these matters in ways that
still permit us to have effective, productive,
and profitable electrical businesses.

MOVING FORWARD

The following are some suggestions to
help build an ESP with ESWP. Chapter 1 of
the 2021 NFPA® 70E can be of great help –
especially articles 100, 110, and 120.

www.ieci.org | May/June 2021 | Insights Magazine 11