Assessing the Health of an Electrical System: An Approach From the Forest Products Industry

Keeping employees safe is a cornerstone of most industrial safety policies. Often, facility safety personnel are unaware of what the requirements are for electrical systems, so they treat those policies as special. Many forest product industry facilities have standards related to their electrical distribution systems and testing requirements. Most insurance carriers require protective devices to be periodically tested. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 70E standard requires electrical systems to be maintained and, by extension, so does the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. How does one know if the systems in place are adequate? How should systems be assessed, and what is the basis for the assessment? Given that resources are limited, how can a representative portion of a system be evaluated to get an idea of how it is overall? This article explores one company's approach based on a recent, corporatewide electrical safety and power system assessment.