Electric Shock Awareness Month: Test Before you Touch!

Welcome to Part 1 of our Electric Shock month. We will be looking at a scenario which occurred recently to illustrate some basic principles of working with electricity – those being Test before you Touch, never assume, work under instruction at all times, and communicate effectively and clearly. This week, we are looking at the first of these – Test before you touch.

As electricians, we know that electricity is a wonderful, incredible invention that allows our modern life to exist. We also know that it is dangerous, and deadly if trifled with.

This is why it is extremely important to make sure that you test before you touch – and you check, and double, and triple check the relevant isolations are in place.

This month, we will be looking at a case study of a shock which occurred that could have been avoided. This was a safety incident where an apprentice and tradesperson arrived on a site, completed the appropriate pre-start and risk assessments. They proceeded to isolate all relevant systems, and then left site to wait for a call back from a technician who was also completing work on the site. When tradesperson and the apprentice returned, they re-energised a gate control box which the technician then returned to, and may have received an electric shock.

The Apprentice and the Tradesperson returned to site after being asked to return and investigate by the technician, they returned to site and did not isolate or follow the isolation procedure. The apprentice then received a shock during his investigation.

Regardless of any of the other errors made during the course of events in this scenario, one thing rings true – that is if any of the above people had have tested before they touched anything, the shocks could have been completely avoided.

This is why we recommend to ALWAYS test before you touch anything. Even if you have isolated everything, and you know the power is off – it doesn’t hurt to test before you touch any wire, socket, or board. It might just save your life – or at the very least save you from getting a shock which can leave you uncomfortable for a while.

Additionally, make sure that your testing tools are up to date, in good working order and are maintained regularly.

We hope that this week’s blog has been educational, and will help you understand the risks of failing to test before you touch. Next week, we will go over another principle which was not followed in this example – Never Assume.