How Your Factory Can Be Prepared And Prevent An Electrical Emergency
Everybody is hard at work in the factory and everything is going great, production is on schedule and things are running smoothly until someone shouts “Electrical fire!” If your company hasn’t taken the proper steps to prepare and prevent this kind of factory electrical emergency then chaos will ensue. The employees will run about shouting “Where are the fire extinguishers?”, “Should we evacuate?”, “Where is the escape route?”, and “Who should we call?” Meanwhile, the fire spreads…
All of that panic and confusion is dangerous of course, and could have been avoided if precautions had been taken in advance, and safety drills and procedures were second nature to a well-trained workforce! As for the question “Who should we call?” the first right answer is emergency services, followed directly by the factory’s contracted commercial electrical services who know the building well because they installed everything, and who have experience in handling electrical emergencies! Now, let’s see what could have been done differently to prevent a factory electrical emergency!
Proper Training
It’s a sad truth that most industrial accidents could have been prevented if the company had invested in emergency training for the staff. The first step is to make sure everyone understands the correct operation of the tools they are assigned to use and knows how to shut them off quickly if there is a malfunction. Secondly, a detailed emergency plan must be in place that includes everyone knowing the location of fire extinguishers of the proper type, as well as how to use them correctly. An escape route must also be laid out so that everyone can exit safely in the event of a potentially life-threatening emergency.
There should be a team of well-trained, cool-headed management and employees chosen to form a first-response safety team to marshal the rest of the workforce and provide leadership during the emergency. All of these safety procedures should be ingrained in all employees, there can be no doubt or questions when an emergency happens, and everybody must be prepared and know exactly what to do to prevent any tragic loss of life and limb!
Prevention And Precautions
The best course of action for an electrical emergency is to stop it from happening in the first place! A regular course of preventive maintenance for all machinery and electronic devices must be mandatory, well cared for tools are not as likely to break down and cause trouble. Your factory must have a backup commercial power generator installed on site, but in a different area than the work floor so it won’t be affected if a problem happens there. The generator has to be powerful enough to compensate for a local or grid outage and maintain all basic functions and a bit more if the need should arise. This will enable the factory’s essential functions such as lighting, air conditioning, device heating and cooling systems, and safety devices to continue to work properly during an outage.
Check the webpage for more information on industrial electrical safety. We hope this article helps your business implement proper safety standards so you and your employees can work safely and never have to undergo an electrical emergency!
