Basic Considerations for Electrical Lockout/Tagout

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Lockout/tagout is one of those “good news-bad news” safety topics. The good news is that most companies are generally doing a better job of addressing lockout/tagout issues than they are other safety concerns. The bad news is lockout/tagout programs for plant electrical systems, for the most part, are still not as well defined as those for other energy sources. This article presents basic considerations that will help you establish a workable electrical lockout/tagout program at your facility.Read More

Designing for Reliability, Safety, and Maintenance

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Because the design of an electrical system is based on distributing power, we can easily lose sight of its other important functional criteria and if we don’t consider these, longterm system operating costs will skyrocket. To avoid this, electrical systems need to be designed for reliability, safety, and ease of maintenance.Read More

To Glove or Not to Glove?

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There is no doubt that wearing gloves is clumsy and makes the electrical worker’s job more difficult. It is not surprising, then, that D.L. Steiner, Inc. is often asked whether or not workers are required to wear their gloves when working on a de-energized panelboard, control panel, or PLC cabinet. The answer to this question has three parts.Read More

The Ins and Outs of Electrical Safety Auditing

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What a loaded term is the simple word–audit. When coupled with the acronym IRS, it can strike fear in the hearts of even the most attentive taxpayer. In the the corporate world, the all-to-familiar audit raises images of masses of red tape, reams of columned spreadsheets and exhausted board members with glazed eyes. While the audit is standard practice for many business professionals, it may seem out of place to the electrical safety professional, but it is not!Read More