Electricity Today T&D Magazine

Removing hazards caused from in-vehicle computing

BY SCOTT BALL, Motion Computing

No utility company would send a worker out in a truck with a known safety defect. North American electric utilities may not realize, however, that by failing to ensure that computing devices are used safely within their vehicles, management could be putting their employees and the public at risk. Even worse, if an accident was to occur, the utility could be held liable. Access to mobile computing is now the rule rather than the exception. The latest generation of mobile-friendly applications has made computing devices essential for connecting...

A personal fall protection arrest system (PFAS) is comprised of three vital components: an anchorage, body wear (full-body harnesses), and a connecting device (a shock-absorbing lanyard or self-retracting lifeline). The safety of at-height workers depends on these three components, and each one must be in place and used properly to provide maximum worker protection.
When discussing fall protection, anchorage connectors and full body harnesses receive a lot of attention. We don’t always stop to think about connecting devices like self-retracting lifelines or shock-absorbing lanyards, and yet these are the two components that bear the greatest forces during a fall.
Before...