The capacitor can discharge 200 milliamps of current. It receives power from a wall outlet with 208 volts and converts it to 5 kilovolts. The capacitor discharged when the power supply was opened or in close proximity. This resulted in an electric shock. Even when the capacitor is not powered, it can still discharge current because they retain a charge after power has been turned off.
What was the corrective action taken?
During the investigation, it was found that the shop had no written procedure for working with electrical equipment. Job Safety Analysis is a way to provide a written procedure for the personnel who perform these operations. The principles of the Energy Isolation: Tag Out/Lock Out program would form a large part of a complete JSA. This document provides campus procedures for anyone working with equipment that may be unexpectedly activated or released stored energy.
According to the document, the EH&S process must be reviewed and the EH&S procedure must include a supervisor’s authorization, the use of qualified employees, an alternative method of protection for the employee, as well as an EH&S assessment of the work. A complete JSA for this topic includes the identification of hazards, engineering or other procedural control that eliminates hazards, as well as appropriate personal protective equipment and barriers. A JSA has been created for the shop in which this incident took place.
This post was written by Justin Tidd, Director at Becker Mining Systems! For nearly a half a century, Becker Mining has been at the forefront of industry safety. Becker/SMC is the industry’s leader in increasingly more sophisticated electrical control systems. Most of the major innovations, design features and specialized electrical components have been developed by Becker/SMC.
