Electrical > Test Before You Touch - 01

Electrical Safety for Home and Work Place

Understanding The Risk

Electrical hazards, while a fraction of total workplace injuries, are more likely to result in death than injuries from other causes.

• Electrical accidents on the job cause an average of 13 days away from work and nearly one fatality every day.
• Approximately 62 percent of an estimated 32,807 nonfatal electrical injuries occurring between 1992 and 1998 were classified as electric shock and 38 percent as electric burns.
• The nonfatal workplace incidents that cause the highest number of days away from work include contact with an electrical current or a machine, tool, appliance or light fixture (38 percent), and contact with wiring, transformers or other electrical components (33 percent).
• Nonfatal electrical injury occurs most often to those who work with machines or tools and around electrical wiring other than power lines.