Sécurité dans les milieux de travail – norme améliorée

Une nouvelle édition de la norme CSA Z462 – Sécurité dans les milieux de travail, entièrement révisée et mise à jour offre plus de critères et documents d’orientation. La norme a été mise en conformité avec les modifications et révisions apportées à l’édition 2015 du Code canadien de l’électricité, Partie 1 et la norme Z463 sur l’entretien des systèmes électriques. Cette norme aide les milieux de travail à améliorer ou établir un programme de sécurité électrique et offre des avantages aux entrepreneurs électriciens.Être conforme à la norme CSA Z462 peut faire la différence entre gagner ou perdre un projet avec des clients qui ont implanté des programmes de sécurité électrique dans leur milieu de travail ou encore s’ils ont une politique maison favorisant l’embauche de fournisseurs ayant démontré leurs compétences en matière de sécurité. La conformité avec cette norme peut également vous permettre de protéger vous-même et vos employés dans les milieux de travail où il n’y a pas de programme de sécurité électrique.

A new edition of CSA Z462 – Workplace Electrical Safety,extensively revised and updated, offersmore criteria and guidance material, and has been aligned with the changes and revisions to the 2015 edition of the Canadian Electrical Code, Part I and the new Z463 Guideline on Maintenance of Electrical Systems. 

CSA Z462 specifies workplace electrical safety requirements necessary for safeguarding workers during such activities as installing, inspecting, operating, maintaining, and demolishing electric conductors and electric equipment, as well as working in proximity of energized electrical equipment. 

The standard helps workplaces upgrade or establish an in-house electrical safety program, but also offers benefits to electrical contractors. Complying with CSA Z462 could make a difference between winning and losing contracts with customers who have electrical safety programs in place or who place a priority on hiring suppliers with proven health and safety performance. Compliance could also protect you and your employees in workplaces with no electrical safety program — “something many workplaces lack even though electrical incidents and injuries are often serious,” says Francis Hardy, a Senior Safety Specialist with Ontario’s Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) and a member of the CSA Z462-15 Technical Committee. “One in five critical workplace injuries involving electricity results in a fatality, and one in 18 non-critical injuries results in a fatality. Compare this to one in 760 for other types of injuries.”

“As part of our responsibility to our stakeholders, ESA does a lot of investigating,” continues Hardy. “We encounter many situations where electricians have underestimated the energy they are working with and the hazard it poses.” Failing to recognize and control electrical hazards can have serious consequences. “If you’re installing an electrical panel and something goes wrong, you’re at risk of severe injury or even fatality. Even if you’re not injured, you could still destroy the panel, which means replacement costs, additional time costs, and an unplanned shutdown of your client’s workplace.”

What’s in CSA Z462

CSA Z462 provides details on recognized methods for identifying electrical hazards and risk assessment, and defines best safety practices and training for work on and around electrical equipment. Specifically, this third edition provides

• improved direction on hazard identification and risk assessment

• new safety procedures and assessment tables for work around DC systems

• new tables for the selection of personal protective equipment

• added guidance on safe procedures and training

• new Annexes on safety around high-voltage systems and electrostatic discharges

• new criteria and advice on risk assessment and risk-based decision making

Major changes from the second edition include

• eliminating the prohibited approach boundary and HRC Category “0”

• greater clarification of risk assessment procedures for hazardous electrical systems

• a hierarchy of control applied to risk mitigation

• considerations on condition of equipment

• a new requirement for audits of field work

• a new section on human performance and electrical safety

Find out more about the standard: http://shop.csa.ca/en/canada/landing-pages/z462-workplace-electrical-safety/page/z462. For training on CSA Z362 check out CSA courses across Canada and ESA courses in Ontario. See EIN’s training calendar for specifics: http://electricalindustry.ca/events-calendar.