Each week Mining Man brings you a different safety topic to
focus on in your safe work or safe behaviour observations at work.
This week we are looking at a rather specific type of high
risk work that occurs reasonably commonly in the mining industry – live testing.
Live testing can
be defined as the inspection, testing and commissioning of equipment or machinery that cannot be isolated while performing the required work.
Wherever possible, equipment should always be isolated while working on that equipment. However in some circumstance equipment
requires testing or commissioning to be carried out that is simply not possible
without having the equipment powered and fully operational. Usually this testing relates to electrical
work, but it can involve jobs where a machine is required to operate with
people in areas where they would normally need to have fully isolated.
The Risks
The major risks involved with live testing are people coming
into contact with exposed live electrical components, or metal parts of
equipment which have become live. Contact
with live electrical components can result in electric shock, burns from arcing,
or secondary injuries from a person’s reaction to electric shock (i.e. a
fall). In other situations the unexpected
movements of machinery can present a hazard as well.
Live Testing
Procedure
Most mine sites and companies will have a procedure for carrying out live testing. Being familiar with this procedure will help
a lot in carrying out a safety observation on people performing live testing. If you do come across people carrying out
live testing but you’re not up to speed on the requirements of the procedure,
this can in fact be a very good way to kick off your observation:
“Hi guys, I’m just out
and about doing my weekly safe work observations. I noticed you have the area taped off for
live testing. What other things does the
live testing procedure require?”
From here, we can discuss with the people on the job what
they are doing to control the risks involved with live testing, whether through
the requirements of the procedure or through things they’ve identified
themselves.
Risk Controls
In our safety observation discussions, we are looking for
the following type of things to have been thought about or put in place:
Was any type of pre-job risk assessment undertaken and
recorded by the team on the job? If so
the hazards and controls raised in this risk assessment can be the basis for
discussions in the safety observation.
Protection of people not involved on
the job such as bystanders or other working in the area (communication, signage, barriers, demarcation)
Equipment is tagged out
of service and/or otherwise prevented from being operated other than for the
testing purposes
All energy sources that can be individually isolated should
be. Only those energy sources directly required to be live for the testing
should be left un-isolated.
Correct tools and equipment
People are trained and
authorized
Environmental factors such as confined working areas, water or moisture,
and conductive materials
Can any protective barriers or screens be used to
minimize the possibility of contact?
Person should never be performing the work
alone, and where it is only two people working remotely, they should have
established a communication schedule similar to someone working alone, as
discussed in our earlier safety topic HERE.
Is an emergency isolation point
available and clearly signed?
Electric shock treatment / first aid poster or
sign should be in the vicinity
Good housekeeping
Any specific clothing / PPE requirements
(i.e. long sleeve cotton shirts and long cotton pants, no artificial fibre
clothing)
If you’re not familiar
with it, this week might be a good time to find your site’s live testing
procedure and familiarize yourself with its requirements for people performing
live testing.
Good luck with your
safety observations, make them count!
Have a productive and safe week.
– Jamie RossMining Man – Great Ideas for Leaders in the Mining Industry To get our weekly safety topics delivered by email each week, signup in the box on the right or by clicking here. Also check out Mining Man on Facebook. Most Popular Safety Topics:Manual Handling Being Prepared for an Emergency Working with Compressed Air Three Lesson for 2009 Mining Fatality Statistics
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