-
Measuring performance ofimplemented protective andpreventative
control meas-ures is an important aspect of electri-cal safety.
Possibly not well under-stood by the electrical community thatmust
implement the Electrical SafetyProgram, or a neglected process in
theElectrical Safety Program, internal andexternal audits are a
recognized tool in
Occupational Health & Safety man-agement systems in
demonstrating duediligence to OH&S Regulations. It isimperative
that you are able to meas-ure the performance of your imple-mented
control measures to electricalhazards management to ensure theyare
performing as intended and thatyou can demonstrate due
diligencewith written documentation.
If you have not implemented a for-mal Electrical Safety Program,
anelectrical safety audit is an effectivetool to establish what
your status quo,baseline electrical safety policies andpractices
are and identify where gapsmay exist to industry accepted
Stan-dards, such as CSA Z462 WorkplaceElectrical Safety.
An electrical safety audit can consist
By Terry Becker, P.Eng.
An Electrical Safety AuditThe Key To Electrical Safety Program
Performance
ESM_Supplement_Summer09 8/6/09 11:46 PM Page 14
-
Electrical Safety Measures - Summer 2009 15
of a simple documentation audit, or amore detailed electrical
safety auditwhere you utilize several different meth-ods to ensure
that your preventative andprotective control measures are
workingeffectively and as intended. The threemethods used to
validate are: Observa-tion/Inspection (observation of yourworkers,
and inspection of your electri-cal distribution systems);
Interview(with management, supervisors, electri-cal workers and
non-electrical workers);and Documentation Review (hazardtask
analysis process, lockout procedure,electrical safe work
procedures, incidentinvestigation, emergency response, etc.).
Effective due diligence againstOccupational Health & Safety
Codes,Acts and Regulations in Canada is thedevelopment and
implementation of amanagement system that allows foridentification,
quantification of hazardrisk and implementation of
appropriatepreventive and protective controlmeasures to mitigate or
reduce risk toworkers. For electrical hazards, the ArcFlash
Triangle graphic illustrates keyvariables in an arc flash and
shockfrom the electrical energy source toground (see Figure 1).
This manage-ment system is called an ElectricalSafety Program. The
Electrical SafetyProgram should outline what preven-tive and
protective control measuresare implemented and they should
beprioritized in the following order asoutlined in CSA Z1000
Occupationalhealth and safety management:
1. Eliminate the hazard, de-energize isthe first choice;
2. Substitute with other materials,processes or equipment;
3. Reduce the risk by design (e.g.engineering solutions,
equipmentsolutions, “Safety by Design”);
4. Use safer work systems thatincrease awareness of potential
haz-ards e.g. apply safeguards like sig-nage, barriers, etc..;
5. Implement administrative controls(e.g. training and
procedures); and
6. Use Electrical Specific PersonalProtective Equipment (PPE),
as alast line of defense, and ensure it isappropriately used and
maintained.
One element of an Electrical SafetyProgram is the need for
internal and
external auditing to validate andmeasure performance of the
imple-mentation of the Electrical Safety Pro-gram, identify gaps,
make recommen-dations on how to improve the Electri-cal Safety
Program’s performance andprioritize actions to implement
therequired changes identified in theaudit. An example framework of
atypical Electrical Safety Program islisted below where the
category ofaudit is identified:
Example Electrical Safety ProgramFramework Categories:a. Company
Safety Policyb. Management Leadership & Com-
mitmentc. Electrical Safety Program Adminis-
trationd. Regulatory Requirements & Stan-
dardse. Electrical Hazard Identification,
Assessment & Risk Controlf. Safe Installationsg. Electrical
Safety PPE Programh. Electrical Safety Training & Com-
petencei. Electrical Safe Work Practicesj. Electrical
Engineering “Safety by
Design”k. Electrical Equipment “Safety by
Design”l. Electrical Equipment Maintenancem. Electrical Incident
Investigation &
Managementn. Emergency Responseo. Audit & Corrective Action
Plansp. Contractor Managementq. Management of Changer. Management
of Documentations. Appendix
In implementing an Electrical SafetyProgram the electrical
hazards of shockand arc flash must be identified and
Figure 1. Arc Flash Triangle
Circle 75 on Reader Service Card
ESM_Supplement_Summer09 8/6/09 11:46 PM Page 15
-
prioritized processes and systems asidentified above put into
place to miti-gate or reduce the risk level of electri-cal hazards
for workers. Understandingif the processes and systems deployedare
working properly and effectivelyand ensuring workers have
compe-tency in them are critical to the successof the Electrical
Safety Program andexhibiting appropriate due diligence.
The audit component of the Electri-cal Safety Program is
identifieduniquely in the CSA Z1000 Occupa-tional health and safety
managementStandard, Plan, Do, Check, Act man-agement system
approach, asdepicted in the graphic below in thecontext of the
available six preventiveand protective control measures
forelectrical hazards.
By completing an electrical safetyaudit before you develop an
ElectricalSafety Program you will establish abaseline of your
existing policies andpractices, and you will ensure that
youprioritize appropriately where youreffort should be concentrated
to demon-strate due diligence.
Example: Case StudyIn the case of a large oil and gas com-
pany an Electrical Safety Standard wascreated and deployed in
2000, but hadnot been internally or externally auditeduntil 2007
when a formal external elec-trical safety audit project was
initiated.The company realized that the lack ofauditing was a gap
in the implementa-tion of their Electrical Safety Standard,and
hired an external Electrical SafetyServices consultant to assist
them incompleting this task for all eight of theirmajor oil and gas
complexes.
A plan and schedule was put intoplace to complete the detailed
Electri-cal Safety Audits throughout the calen-dar year 2008. The
consultant had anestablished electrical safety auditprocess that
was structured and uti-lized the validation tools of
Observa-tion/Inspection, Interviews and Docu-mentation review
consistent withOccupational Health & Safety man-agement system
auditing processes.An Electrical Safety Audit software
tool was used to compile the validationdata collected, and score
the results ofthe audit by management system(Electrical Safety
Program) frame-work category. The resulting auditreport provided a
% score by manage-ment system framework category, andconsistent
application of the auditprocess across all eight complexeswould
provide the ability to bench-mark performance of the
ElectricalSafety Standard across all eight of thecomplexes.
For each complex a pre-onsite auditdocumentation review was
completedof overall Occupational Health &Safety management
system documen-tation for electrical hazard specificcontent,
including any site specificElectrical Safe Work Procedures
orPractices.
The complexes were scheduled forthe onsite portion of the audit,
andwhile onsite interview sheets were usedto validate understanding
of the Electri-cal Safety Standard by worker
role:Manager/Supervisor, Electrical Work-ers, Operator, and General
(Instrumen-tation Technician, Health, Safety &Environmental
Coordinator, Planners,and Schedulers). Table 1 identifies
whatfacilities were inspected for each Com-plex and Table 2
highlights the totalnumber of interviews completed byrole across
all eight complexes.
Additional validation of perform-ance was completed utilizing an
Elec-trical Safety Checklist, reviewing andretrieving any onsite
documentation,and completing electrical distribution
16 Electrical Safety Measures - Summer 2009
Figure 2. Plan, Do, Check, Act
Complex Total Facilities Inspected
1 Main Plant, Compressor Station, Wellsite
2 Main Plant, Compressor Station, Wellsite
3 Main Plant, Compressor Station, 2 Wellsites
4 Main Plant, 2 Compressor Stations
5 Main Plant, Special Processing Facility, 2 Compressor
Stations, 2 Wellsites
6 3 Main Plants, Pilot Facility, 3 Well Pads, Transfer
Station
7 Main Plant, Pilot Plant, 2 Well Pads
8 Large Compressor Station
Role Description Interviewed Cumulative # Of Interviews
Supervisor 18
Electrical Worker 29
Operator 9
General (Instrumentation Technician, HSE Coordinator, Planner,
Scheduler...) 24
Total Interviews Completed 80
Table 2. Total number of interviews by role description.
Table 1. Total number of facilities inspected by complex.
ESM_Supplement_Summer09 8/8/09 12:19 PM Page 16
-
system inspections with digital photo-graphs taken for evidence
of a good orbad practice. All Electrical SpecificPPE, Tools and
Equipment were alsoinspected at each complex for valida-tion of
inventory management, properstorage, check in and check out
system,performance management, condition,care, maintenance, and use
practices aswell as valid testing (hot sticks, tempo-rary
protective grounds, and rubberinsulating gloves).
After completion of the onsite por-tion of each audit all data
was reviewedto validate performance using questionsets by
management system categoryin a customized electrical safety
audittool software application. A % scorewas awarded to each
question in each
category and resulted in a % score foreach management system
category.Table 3 illustrates the overall resultsfor each complex
and using the colorcoding of red (0-50% score), yellow(51-80%
score) and green (81-100%score) clearly depicts the overall
per-formance by each complex of the Elec-trical Safety
Standard.
Using the electrical safety audit toolsoftware a Field Level
Audit Reportwas generated automatically by com-plex and a separate
Executive LevelElectrical Safety Audit report createdbased on this,
and issued for each indi-vidual complex. Photograph files werealso
created and issued as evidence offindings for each report.
The Executive Level Electrical
Safety Audit reports that were issuedfor each complex identified
the auditprocess used, reported findings and adetailed list of
recommendations ofcorrective actions. Using an externalElectrical
Safety Audit process, thelarge oil and gas company clearly
iden-tified significant gaps existing in theirimplementation of
their ElectricalSafety Standard, allowing them toeffectively
prioritize financial andhuman resources to ensure that electri-cal
hazards are managed effectively intheir organization.
Terry Becker is CEO of ESPS ElectricalSafety Program Solutions
INC.
Circle 77 on Reader Service Card
18 Electrical Safety Measures - Summer 2009
Total
IElectrical Safety General and
65 56 60 49 55 62 59
1)
2) Color codiing of boxes is based on the following percentage
scores, 0 50%, red, 51 80%, yellow, and 81 100% green.
Major Upstream Oil & Gas Company
Electrical Safety Operations and Maintenance Standard and Rev
ARegulatory Management Plan Policy Implementation Procedure April
25, 2009Overall Audit Scoring Summary by Complex
Management System CategoryAudit Location
Complex 1 Complex 2 Complex 3 Complex 4 Complex 5 Complex 6
Complex 7 Complex 8 Element
A Management Leadership 94 79 90 88 66 75 92 95 84.9
B Hazard and Risk Assessment 65 50 61 62 59 64 56 55 59.0
CStandards, Procedures and Work
Instructions75 63 69 64 72 67 71 65 68.3
D Training, Education and Certification 82 75 78 71 56 67 62 53
68.0
EHealth and Safety Communications
Systems77 84 77 77 56 77 72 87 75.9
FIncident Reporting and Investigations
Systems83 79 83 84 67 69 69 69 75.4
G Contractor Management
These catagories are not considered applicable to this audit and
therefore are not scored.
0.0
HPrime Contractor Selection and
0.0
I
Management
Electrical Safety General and65 56 6565 60 49 55 62 59 58
958.9
J
Administration
Electrical Safety Acts, Regulations and 89 76 90 78 75 72 85 85
81.3
K
Standards Compliance
Electrical Safe Installations 85 76 86 75 79 75 82 84 80.3
L Electrical Engineering Safety By Design 81 75 77 71 72 68 66
75 73.1
M Electrical Equipment Safety By Design 93 83 80 73 66 74 64 79
76.5
N Electrical Equipment Maintenance 92 73 88 86 72 66 66 77
77.5
O Electrical Specific PPE 74 63 59 60 72 65 80 60 66.6
P Electrical Safety and Technical Training 52 80 52 53 67 54 53
45 57.0
Q Electrical Safe Work Procedures 56 50 57 56 50 56 55 49
53.6
Total Location Scores (%) 76 67 72 68 67 66 69 67
OVERALL SCORE (%) 69.0
Notes
All individual catagory/location scores have been rounded up or
down to the closest whole number; therefore the total scores may
not exactly equate to the average of allindividual element or
location scores. The overall score is based on the average of all
indicated location scores.
Table 3. Electrical Safety Audit Performance Results by
Complex
ESM_Supplement_Summer09 8/8/09 12:19 PM Page 18