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...

When working in close proximity to exposed energized equipment or working on live electrical circuits, it’s necessary to protect not only the equipment being worked on but also the worker. Rubber insulating gloves and insulated hand tools are vital components of a successful PPE system and should be used in conjunction with each other to provide the maximum protection for the worker.
It’s common to perform a task on de-energized equipment which is locked out and tagged out while still being within the shock boundary and in close proximity to other live equipment. In this case, a worker could accidentally...