ESA Report Abstract - Electrical Safety in the Workplace and Arc Flash

Abstract – This paper provides a profile and statistics of electrical incidents in the workplace in Ontario. The paper gives readers an idea of the gravity of problem in relation to other occupational injury and deaths. Data presented in this paper was mostly from the Ontario Ministry of Labour, The Worker's Safety Insurance Board and the Electrical Safety Authority's collection of data as a result of its own investigations.

Ontario averaged six workplace electrocutions annually in the last ten years that are electrically related at a rate of 0.713 per million labour population. Most deaths(85%) occurred when the workers were performing repair and maintenance, or new construction . The rate of electrocution in the workplace has improved in the last five years by 28.6% compared to the previous five years. Contact with powerlines by non-electrical workers accounted for 49% of all workplace electrocutions though the prevalence in the last five year period had been reduced to 36%.

In comparison, death and serious injuries to the electrical trade has shown increase both in numbers and prevalence. Death to electricians between 2000 and2004 accounted for 8% of all electrocution in the workplace. Between 2005-2009, the prevalence jumped to 20%, an increase of almost two folds. Totalling all serious injuries (fatalities and critical injuries), the number jumped from five to 30 for the same period, a six-fold increase. The study found that arc flash injuries are most common amongst electricians when working on 600 Volts panels. These injuries were mostly critical in nature rather than fatalities.

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