Reggie Lavoie
Member
- Location
- Wallkill, NY, USA
I am working on a class on how to deal with water loss situations. One section deals with electrical safety. Has anyone come across official documentation (e.g. OSHA) on how to deal with this? For example:
1. If a building has a flooded basement, of course the best option is to remove power to the building (or at least be able to pull the meter on a smaller building if possible). However, suppose you enter a building built on a slab, it is flooded (perhaps 1 inch of water or less). You don't know if there are floor receptacles, the service it located where you have to go through water to get to it. If removing power to the building is not a practical option at the time (for whatever reason, and it would have to be a good one), is there a way to measure if any of the water is live? I experimented with non-contact voltage testers and found that you have to be very close to the power source (a foot or less) before the tester will detect voltage (in fresh water). That would mean you have to be in the water as you walk around looking for voltage. Not a safe situation. Are there testers designed for this purpose or any other ways to do this?
2. Wearing rubber boots could help. However, I have never heard of any "rated" equipment to handle walking in water that may be energized. Therefore, is the only option is to tell the person that under no circumstance can they go into any water without disconnecting power to the building? What if it is a minor flood (just one room in a building)?
I think you can see where I am going with this. I don't want to seem impractical, while at the same time I need to maintain a minimum standard of safety. I would like to have one set of guidelines for electricians who need to deenergize equipment so that the water loss crew can take care of the water loss situation safely. The other set of guidelines would be for non-electricians to know when to call in an electrician. Essentially, the goal is to be able to walk into a place, inspect, and turn off power in locations that are wet. If electrical equipment is found to be wet, it would certainly be deenergized before working on it. Of course even doing that has its risks since we have to assume it is live and measure it before we can consider it in an electrically safe work condition. Thanks for your help!
1. If a building has a flooded basement, of course the best option is to remove power to the building (or at least be able to pull the meter on a smaller building if possible). However, suppose you enter a building built on a slab, it is flooded (perhaps 1 inch of water or less). You don't know if there are floor receptacles, the service it located where you have to go through water to get to it. If removing power to the building is not a practical option at the time (for whatever reason, and it would have to be a good one), is there a way to measure if any of the water is live? I experimented with non-contact voltage testers and found that you have to be very close to the power source (a foot or less) before the tester will detect voltage (in fresh water). That would mean you have to be in the water as you walk around looking for voltage. Not a safe situation. Are there testers designed for this purpose or any other ways to do this?
2. Wearing rubber boots could help. However, I have never heard of any "rated" equipment to handle walking in water that may be energized. Therefore, is the only option is to tell the person that under no circumstance can they go into any water without disconnecting power to the building? What if it is a minor flood (just one room in a building)?
I think you can see where I am going with this. I don't want to seem impractical, while at the same time I need to maintain a minimum standard of safety. I would like to have one set of guidelines for electricians who need to deenergize equipment so that the water loss crew can take care of the water loss situation safely. The other set of guidelines would be for non-electricians to know when to call in an electrician. Essentially, the goal is to be able to walk into a place, inspect, and turn off power in locations that are wet. If electrical equipment is found to be wet, it would certainly be deenergized before working on it. Of course even doing that has its risks since we have to assume it is live and measure it before we can consider it in an electrically safe work condition. Thanks for your help!
