Enhancing electrical safety in water, wastewater industry

Electrical safety insights

• Downtime in water treatment plants can deprive entire populations of water, highlighting the urgent need for minimizing downtime risks.
• Lockout/tagout (LOTO) procedures, crucial for electrical safety, often face challenges that lead to OSHA violations and are traditionally time-consuming.

With population growth and limited resources for potable water, ensuring continuous uptime is crucial. However, maintenance and downtime pose risks, making safety and efficiency paramount.

Minimizing downtime risks

In the water treatment industry, the significance of minimizing downtime risks cannot be overstated, particularly when the interruption of service can leave an entire population without water. With reactive maintenance scenarios being a leading cause of injuries, it becomes imperative to prioritize safe and efficient maintenance practices. Minimizing downtime risks and exploring solutions will ensure continuous uptime while safeguarding the water supply for communities.

• Downtime in water treatment plants can lead to the loss of water for an entire population.

• Reactive maintenance scenarios contribute to 70% of injuries, emphasizing the need for safe and efficient maintenance practices.

Lockout/tagout (LOTO) challenges

The implementation of LOTO procedures is crucial for ensuring electrical safety in treatment plants. However, challenges often arise, leading to missteps and potential OSHA violations. Moreover, the traditional approach to LOTO procedures in treatment plants can be time-consuming and requires the involvement of two personnel. Innovative solutions to streamline and enhance the effectiveness of these procedures will ensure the highest level of safety while minimizing disruptions in water treatment operations.

• LOTO, a vital procedure, often encounters missteps, resulting in OSHA violations.

• Traditional LOTO procedures in treatment plants can be time-consuming, involving two personnel.

Courtesy: Grace Technologies

The role of a permanent electrical safety device (PESD)

When it comes to electrical safety, compliance with regulations is crucial. However, forward-thinking companies understand that going beyond mere compliance can significantly enhance both safety and productivity. The PESD offers innovative solutions to improve LOTO procedures. By installing this onto enclosures, companies can reduce LOTO procedure times, enable safer absence of voltage tests and mitigate hazardous electrical exposure risks. A PESD revolutionizes LOTO procedures, creating a safer and more efficient work environment.

• Installing PESD onto enclosures reduces LOTO procedure times by 35-40 minutes.

• ChekVolt allows a qualified electrician to perform absence of voltage tests safely and efficiently from the outside.

• Hazardous electrical exposure risks are mitigated, enabling a single electrician to complete the procedure in less than 5 minutes.

– Grace Technologies is a CFE Media and Technology content partner.

Original content can be found at Grace Technologies.

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