HSE information sheet

Safety in electrical testing:

Switchgear and control gear
Engineering Information Sheet No 37

What is this guidance about? enclosure of the instrument becoming live at

dangerous voltages. Such use also defeats the
This information sheet contains specific advice about equipment manufacturer’s primary protection
some of the ways of avoiding injury during the electrical concept for Class I protection and should be
testing of switchgear and control gear, including those discouraged.
with power electronic components installed. Further
advice is given in Safety in electrical testing at work: Carrying out a risk assessment
General guidance1 and other guidance on electrical
safety listed under ‘Where can I get more information?’ To help you identify the precautions that are necessary
on page 3. to carry out electrical testing work safely, you need to do
an assessment of the risk of injury posed by the work
How can injuries happen during testing? being done. When assessing the risk, you need to think
about the hazards that are present; who may be harmed
The most significant danger to people carrying out and how; and the effectiveness of existing precautions.
electrical testing work is that they might suffer an electric Bear in mind the examples of factors given in this
shock. Any simultaneous contact of a part of the body guidance which might increase the risk of injury.
with a conductor that is live at a dangerous voltage, such
as one that is connected to the mains supply, while When carrying out a risk assessment for electrical
another part of the body is connected to an earth, will testing, ask yourself the following questions:
result in an electric shock. There is also a risk of burn
injuries resulting from arcing when conductors are
(a) Can the work be done with the equipment dead?
accidentally short-circuited.
(b) Is it absolutely necessary for someone to be
An electric shock can lead to serious injury, sometimes
working on or near equipment that is live at
fatal. Injuries can also occur when a person reacts to an
dangerous voltages or current levels?
electric shock, for example by falling or touching another
hazard. Factors likely to increase the risk of receiving an
electric shock include the following: (c) Have suitable precautions been taken to avoid
danger and, where necessary, prevent injury?
(a) Testing, servicing and repair may be carried out at
a customer’s premises. In this case, there is a (d) Is the person doing the work competent for that
particular, extra need to consider the safety of type of work, or if not, adequately supervised?
people other than the person doing the work, eg
the employees of the customer; Managing testing

(b) For a lot of equipment there will be comparatively When carrying out testing at a customer’s premises,
large areas of earthed metal that is easily touched, agree the management of the testing activity and its
increasing the possibility of electric shock from implications, eg downtime, with the customer. Preferably
contact with a single live conductor; do this at an early stage, eg when the work request is
raised or when a contract is placed. Keep a record of the
(c) High-voltage insulation (flash) testing can be agreement. The person carrying out the testing should,
particularly hazardous when several parts of the where possible, be accompanied by supervisory staff
equipment are simultaneously energised for a provided by their employer or the customer.
period of time;
The person carrying out the testing should have
(d) Some equipment could be using water in its received adequate training and, if appropriate, be
operation which can lead to an increased risk of competent to make an on-site risk assessment. This
injury, because water conducts electricity and should take account of the ability of those employed by
reduces the resistance of the skin; the customer to heed any warnings that might be given,
in order to prevent unauthorised people from
(e) The use of Class I test instruments (such as many approaching the unit under test.
oscilloscopes) when taking measurements of
dangerous voltages can increase the risk of injury if The following precautions should be considered as part
they are used without the earth (protective) of the safe system of working for electrical testing of this
conductor connected. This can result in the metal equipment.
Test areas have taken account of its safety performance during use.
Where applicable, test equipment should be
In a workshop the test area should be a separate, manufactured to BS EN 61010,4 BS EN 615575 or
designated area where access by unauthorised BS EN 61243-3.6
employees is prevented while testing is in progress.
Test equipment, leads and cables should be handled
In a customer’s premises temporary barriers should be carefully to avoid injury. The following precautions are
used to form an enclosure within which testing work is to recommended:
be carried out. The enclosure should be suitable to
prevent unauthorised people accessing the danger area. (a) All leads and cables which can be energised at
This arrangement should be discussed early on with the dangerous voltages should be robustly insulated
customer. and properly terminated. All connections of
conductors which can be energised at dangerous
Precautions voltage, should be electrically and mechanically
robust to prevent conductors becoming
Where possible, the work should be done with the accidentally exposed. There should be no exposed
equipment dead (this is a requirement of the Electricity conductors at dangerous voltages at any purpose-
at Work Regulations 19892). Otherwise, adequate built connectors or jigs into which the product is
precautions, which should be identified in your risk fixed for testing;
assessment, must be taken to ensure safety. NB:
(b) Test equipment connecting leads, probes and
(a) During functional testing, the level of safety should connectors should be sufficiently protected to
be the same as that provided for the user of the prevent accidental contact when being applied to
equipment after it is installed for service; and removed from live parts;

(b) It may be possible to test the equipment (if only (c) Where practicable, place the equipment under test
partially) by energising it with non-hazardous into interlocked enclosures. This allows
voltages and current levels. This should always be connections to be made while the equipment is
considered as the first option before deciding to isolated;
use dangerous voltages and current levels;
(d) Where practicable, apply test leads while the
(c) Local protection of exposed conductors, including equipment is isolated and then energise it. To
earthed metalwork in the immediate vicinity of the make sure that the equipment is isolated, a
test area, should be provided where necessary. suitable isolating device should be used which
This may be in the form of temporary insulation must be:
using, for example, flexible sheet material or
transparent screens (with apertures for applying (i) appropriate and convenient for the intended
test instrument probes). These may be purpose use;
built so that they can be reused;
(ii) suitably located;
(d) Insulating rubber floor mats, eg in accordance with
BS 921,3 can be used to prevent earth contact (iii) readily identifiable (eg by durable marking) as
through the floor. Remember, however, that they to which circuits or part of the test area is
will not provide any protection if a person touches served;
the large areas of metal of the control panel
simultaneously with exposed live conductors which (iv) provided with adequate means to prevent the
are likely to be at earth potential and readily supply isolator being switched on (either
accessible; inadvertently, mistakenly, or by an
unauthorised person).
(e) Where practicable, the power supplies to the unit
under test and to the mains-powered What are the legal requirements?
instrumentation should include a residual current
device (RCD) used as supplementary protection. The Electricity at Work Regulations 19892 are the
For personal protection it is recommended that the principal legislation relating to electrical testing activities
rated tripping current of the RCD should be no and regulation 14 is particularly relevant to live testing
more than 30mA (milliamps). activities. In addition, employers are required under
regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at
Test equipment Work Regulations 19997 to assess the risks to the health
and safety of their employees while they are at work, in
Where possible, test equipment should be of a order to identify and implement the necessary
proprietary design. In this case the manufacturer should precautions to ensure safety.
References A design guide for the electrical safety of instruments,
instrument/control panels and control systems (Ref 178)
1 Safety in electrical testing at work: General Engineering Equipment and Materials Users Association
guidance Leaflet INDG354 HSE Books 2002 (single (EEMUA), 45 Beech Street, London EC2Y 8AD
copy free or priced packs of 5 ISBN 0 7176 2296 7) Tel: 020 7496 8990 ISBN 0 85931 080 9

2 Memorandum of guidance on the Electricity at While every effort has been made to ensure the
Work Regulations 1989. Guidance on Regulations accuracy of the references listed in this publication, their
HSR25 ISBN 0 7176 1602 9 future availability cannot be guaranteed.

3 BS 921: 1976 Specification. Rubber mats for Further information

electrical purposes
HSE priced and free publications are available by mail
4 BS EN 61010: 1993 Safety requirements for order from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk
electrical equipment for measurement, control and CO10 2WA Tel: 01787 881165 Fax: 01787 313995
laboratory use (full document is in 11 parts) Website: www.hsebooks.co.uk (HSE priced publications
are also available from bookshops.)
5 BS EN 61557: 1997 Electrical safety in low voltage
distribution systems up to 1000 V ac and 1500 V dc. For information about health and safety ring HSE's
Equipment for testing, measuring or monitoring InfoLine Tel: 08701 545500 Fax: 02920 859260 e-mail:
protective measures [email protected] or write to HSE
Information Services, Caerphilly Business Park,
6 BS EN 61243-3: 1998 Live working. Voltage Caerphilly CF83 3GG. You can also visit HSE’s website:
detectors. Two-pole low voltage type www.hse.gov.uk

7 Management of health and safety at work. British Standards are available from BSI Customer
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations Services, 389 Chiswick High Road, London W4 4AL
1999. Approved Code of Practice and guidance L21 Tel: 020 8996 9001 Fax: 020 8996 7001
(Second edition) HSE Books 2000 ISBN 0 7176 2488 9 Website: www.bsi-global.com

Where can I get more information?

This leaflet contains notes on good practice which are
not compulsory but which you may find helpful in
Electrical test equipment for use by electricians
considering what you need to do.
Guidance Note GS38 ISBN 0 7176 0845 X

BS EN 50191: 2001 Erection and operation of electrical This publication may be freely reproduced, except for
test equipment advertising, endorsement or commercial purposes. The
information is current at 03/02. Please acknowledge the
Electricity at work: Safe working practices HSG85 source as HSE.
ISBN 0 7176 0442 X
Printed and published by the Health and Safety Executive 03/02 EIS37 C150