Cultural drift and the occlusion of electrical safety

IEEE Trans. on Ind. Applicat.

2015

For the past decade, the discussion of occupational electrical safety in the U.S. has largely focused on compliance with NFPA70E, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace. Without taking away from the importance of the requirements in the standard, this paper describes a more comprehensive solution, based on proven concepts derived from systems safety engineering. This paper provides an overview of systems safety engineering and includes a 20+ year case history of a global Fortune 500 company's effort to change the electrical safety culture in its operations to demonstrate results of applying systems safety techniques to electrical safety.

Section: Illusion Of Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Same data as Fig. 8, but in chart form [18]. Electrical injuries are the tiny sliver at the 12:00 position on the chart.…”

Section: Illusion Of Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systems Safety Approach to Occupational Electrical Safety

IEEE Trans. on Ind. Applicat.

2015

“…Floyd and Floyd adapted Fig. 12 [22] from studies by Anderson and Denkl [22] and Cawley and Brenner [4]. This figure shows the ratio of lost time injuries to fatalities by type of incident.…”

Section: B the Heinrich Accident Trianglementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Floyd and Floyd showed this may contribute to an organization being vigilant about electrical safety immediately following an injury, but lapsing in their practice after a certain amount of time has passed without an incident [22].…”

Section: A New Model -The Safety Risk Pyramidmentioning

confidence: 99%

20 Years later: Creating a continuous improvement environment for electrical safety

Industry Applications Society 60th Annual Petroleum and Chemical Industry Conference

Cole

2013

This paper discusses demonstrated results from the electrical safety improvement strategy documented in the paper, Creating a Continuous Improvement Environment for Electrical Safety, presented at the 1992 IEEE IAS Petroleum and Chemical Industry Conference. Two of the original authors present this follow-up paper with a critique of the continuous improvement strategy outlined in the original paper, and discussion of lessons learned from its implementation. The paper shows how this strategy is aligned with leading edge developments in advanced safety management of hazards with high potential for fatality and includes a discussion on applying this strategy to these other hazards.Index Terms -electrical safety, safety management.

“…Extracted from data compiled by the Electrical Safety Foundation International from U.S. BLS data[1].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Leading-Edge Developments in Advanced Safety Management and Applications to Electrical Safety

IEEE Trans. on Ind. Applicat.

2015

This paper discusses three evolving and leading-edge developments in advanced safety management with significant potential for accelerating further improvements in prevention of serious injuries and fatalities from electrical hazards. These topics are as follows: 1) systems safety engineering as an approach integrating application of engineering and management principles, criteria, and techniques to achieve risk as low as reasonably practicable; 2) ongoing research in human error enabling new ways of thinking about the human side of safety management; and 3) the growing movement in safety management focusing on hazards with high potential for life-changing injury and fatality. This paper discusses these three topics and suggests possibilities in their application to electrical safety.