Good morning.

I am interested in gaining information on procedures and training for: Re-setting Electrical Overloads and Trips for Non-Electrical Staff.

I am currently observing poor practices / high potential risk!  

Our procedures do not cover non-electrical staff resetting overloads and trip switches as these are intrinsic safety devices and the fact they are operating indicates an issue, typically with the applied load, that requires investigation by someone competent.

All electrical boxes are locked with operatives having no access to the keys.

I do appreciate what you are seeing - operators leaving panels open so they can reset an overload each time a machine is required to operate, generally because there is one electrician or it is an outsourced activity.

This situation has two primary causes (over and above poor management) in that the equipment trip limits were incorrectly set at installation of the plant on a hair trigger or the operators are trying to avoid a long and generally unpleasant task removing some form of blockage or accumulation by "limping" the kit in to the next shift.

Personally I would start by ensuring the trips are correctly set and then move to maintenance procedures to address blockages and accumulation.

Hi Tom

Whilst Roundtuit might have successfully read your mind, it would perhaps help if you gave some more detail about what is happening and concerning you.

Assuming it is an industrial (in the broadest sense) environment, before the EAW Regs 1989, the law was very clear - NO work on LIVE electrical equipment that was liable to cause "danger" except under VERY limited conditions. Same principles implicit in what EAW Regs require.

The title of your thread includes the words "Procedures & Training" but perhaps it is more about some people doing tasks they shouldn't be doing and possibly that, in turn, means that some plant is too easily accessible. When I started off as an H&S professional we talked about needing a "special tool" to open "fixed" guards - but HSE suggested that a "special tool" might be an allen key. These days allen keys are very easily obtainable by all and sundry.