Rule No. 1 for electrical work: Turn off power
September 30, 2006
Rule No. 1 for electrical work: Turn off power
This article is not about workers’ compensation insurance. But it’s a good jumping-off point for our opinions on electrical work.
Workers’ comp is based on the danger level of a given job: The more dangerous the job, the more expensive the insurance premium. Makes sense. For example, an in-house salesperson or clerical worker is at low risk of being injured on the job compared to a carpenter or electrician. This is largely because their workplaces are so different; a construction site is usually far more dangerous than a business office.
We used to think electrical work was at the top of the list for expensive coverage. But what we discovered astounded us: Workers’ comp for electricians is relatively low among construction workers.
That got us thinking about what the danger in electrical work is: electrocution. But what is it that most electricians do before they work on your electrical system? Of course, they simply turn off the power. No power, no electrocution.
So what’s the real danger? Forgetting to turn off the power.
People often think it’s safe to turn off a single breaker to work on a given circuit in the home. Nothing could be more foolish. As often as not, electricians will use a single junction box to connect wires from two or more circuits. In other words, you can turn off the breaker to a light or plug and still find an active hot lead in the electric box that you are working on.
When we decide to work on a circuit and don’t want to turn the entire house off, we typically open the junction box in question and test every single wire to absolutely ensure that the power is off before we reach in to touch anything. Entire story
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