With generator season upon us, it makes sense for electrical contractors to be aware of what generator inspectors will be looking for. Here is an excellent article that appeared in a publication produced by the International Association of Electrical Inspectors (IAEI), as penned by Andrew Browne. We feel it is well worth the read.
When a first responder enters a burning building, whether it’s an office building, warehouse, hospital, or any other structure, there is immediately an array of dangers that must be faced. Some are obvious; fire, smoke, weakened structures. But there is also another factor that can imperil a first responder’s life… the inability to communicate with each other and with the outside world.
When an emergency arises, it’s imperative that first responders are able to communicate with each other inside your building and with their command staff outside the building, through the use of their two-way radios. Unfortunately, many buildings have areas where the signal strength for these systems isn’t strong enough to ensure they’ll work properly. This can occur due to the building materials, architectural design, construction features (Low-E windows), and overall size, all of which can absorb or block radio communications. As a result, buildings that do not have complete coverage in certain places are at risk of emergency responders not being able to communicate.
Fortunately, there are now ways to make sure emergency personnel can keep on top of what’s going on, and be able to communicate with important parties both inside and outside a disaster.
It’s true that accidents do happen, but there are also ways to keep them from happening.
One way is being vigilant in the use of locks or lockout devices that physically secure each energy isolation point so the equipment they serve can’t be energized during repair or maintenance. Another less-safe way is the use of tags. Tags should always be used with locks to draw attention to the fact that the equipment is locked out, and to ensure it can’t be inadvertently turned back on.
Lockout/tagout systems involve two types of workers: authorized people and affected people. An authorized person is someone with the knowledge, training and experience to engage in hazardous energy control. The authorized person generally performs the required repair or maintenance and they inform all affected employees that lockout/tagout procedures will be performed before beginning work on the equipment. The authorized person puts on locks and tags, controls the keys to the locks being used, and is the only person allowed to remove locks or tags after work is finished. The authorized person might be the machine’s operator or someone else such as a designated repair person.
An affected person is any worker affected by the equipment being out of service and who is not involved with lockout/tagout or maintenance operations. Employees who work in the same area are also considered affected if their job duties are interrupted by the equipment being shut down. We do not want an affected person turning on equipment by mistake.
A general lockout/tagout procedure can look like this:
