What is electrical safety and its importance?
The EU's framework directive on Safety and Health at Work states that employers have the legal obligation to evaluate all risks to the health and safety of workers and take the corresponding preventative and protective measures. This includes risks arising from the use of electric equipment and electrical installations.8
The directive says that - in order to avoid risk and help combat electrical hazards at the source - employers must give 'appropriate instructions' to workers, implement measures that improve the level of protection and integrate those measures into the activities being undertaken.
Other directives state that employers have a legal obligation to guarantee that workplaces meet minimum OSH requirements for electrical workplace installations9 - and that conspicuous warning signs must be placed in hazardous areas.10
EU regulations specify that the effectiveness of any signs or labels should not be adversely affected by bad design, incorrect positioning or a poor state of repair. To ensure effective use, they should be maintained, checked, repaired and, if necessary, replaced on a regular basis to ensure that they retain their functional qualities. 10
How professional labelling improves electrical safety
One simple way to ensure that appropriate 'at-source' instructions are clear and that hazards are avoided is through the clear labelling of cables and electrical equipment.
While handwritten labels are technically compliant, creating them is time-consuming and the materials used are often not robust or long-lasting. Over time they can deteriorate, meaning equipment is no longer safely labelled, which not only increases the risk of accidents – but also increases the time and cost spent replacing them.
As a result, mobile label printers have become essential tools that enable electricians to create professional, durable labels for cables, conduits, switches, fuse boxes and equipment panels in the field.
To ensure that workers are alert to electrical hazards, it’s important to choose labels that come in high-visibility colours to cover multiple applications and make information as clear as possible.
But we also recommend that the labels you use should be robust enough to meet the demands of tough working environments, with a high level of resistance to abrasion, temperature extremes, water, chemicals and fading. Because the longer labels last in good condition, the lower the risk of electrical hazards, the less frequently you’ll have to change them.
Discover how Brother's range of professional electrician label printers make life on-site safer and easier.
Sources
1. ec.europa.eu (Eurostat): "Statistics explained - Accidents at work statistics" - November 2020
2. europarl.europa.eu: "Question for written answer E-001413/2021"
3. European Commission: "EU strategic framework on health and safety at work 2021-2027 Occupational safety and health in a changing world of work" - June 2021
4. European Agency for Safety and Health at Work / European Risk Observatory: "Green Jobs, new risks? New and emerging risks to occupational safety and health in the electricity sector (Workshop for European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee ‘Electricity’)"
5. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: "Risk Profiling from the European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW) Accidents′ Databases: A Case Study in Construction Sites" - December 2019
6. oshwiki.eu: "Electricity" - (Ivan Božič, Institute of Occupational Safety, Slovenia)
7. ESENER: "Workplace risk assessments carried out regularly, by country, 2014-2019"
8. European Agency for Safety and Health at Work's Framework Directive 89/391/EEC: "Improvements in the safety and health of workers at work"
9. EU Directive 89 /654/EEC: "Minimum safety and health requirements for the workplace"
10. EU Directive 92/58/EEC: "The minimum requirements for the provision of safety and/or health signs at work"
