By Mick Walton, BJ Electric and Tim Driscoll, P.Eng., Shell

As we move rapidly forward on new electrical safety standards and arc flash protection there is an element to safety practices that is often left unquestioned and unanswered. That is lighting, and how it affects safety performance, or can we use lighting as an effective safety tool?

Lighting Maintenance

Any light bulb used in the workplace has a predictable end of life. We know for example that the average High Pressure Sodium lamp will fail somewhere between 18,000 and 24,000 hours of life. Given the huge quantities of these lamps used on our industrial work sites we know that lamp replacement is an ongoing issue for our workforces. One oil sand facility has over 18,000 H.P.S. lamps on site. Roughly one third of these lamps will need to be replaced annually. At a conservative estimate of 1 hour per lamp replacement that means 6000 hours of work. Lamp replacements and lighting maintenance is viewed as a menial task by our workforces. However 347 volt lighting has been pinpointed as the leading cause of death amongst IBEW workers. The fixtures are often inaccessible and the only way they can be reached is by use of ladders or fall arrest equipment. As one leading electrical engineer states “lighting maintenance is extremely hazardous to our workers. The work is often performed with live voltages present, in hazardous locations and in elevated locations.”

The most effective way to deal with these issues is to design and engineer the “problem out”. Provide an effective way of isolating light fixtures in the industrial environment with line of site for the worker.

Make electrical consulting firms provide a detailed maintenance plan with their lighting designs. Showing the owners how the fixtures can be isolated and how they can be safely reached.

Remember that this type of work occurs with startling regularity. In the case of the above mentioned oil sands facility there is an average of 1.64 lamps being replaced every day.

Safe Light Levels  

Lighting is often deferred by our maintenance and planning departments to more important issues such as motor maintenance, heat tracing or the myriad of other issues that actually maintain productivity. However we need to change this mentality. A consulting engineer produces a lighting design based on the principal that the lamps and fixtures are all in operation and being well maintained. If fixtures and lamps are not maintained the light levels will drop accordingly. The situation is exacerbated in an outdoor industrial environment where often we encounter just a handful of fixtures to illuminate a given platform or area. The loss of one or two fixtures will often reduce the light levels to below safety standards set by the owner.

Safe light levels almost certainly contribute to a reduction in slips trips and falls around the work area. The better the chance the worker will see an object or obstruction the better the chance he will avoid falling on it or over it. The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America has published many charts and diagrams along with recommended safe light levels for working areas. These recommendations are often misinterpreted and crucial elements are missed. When it comes to walkways and traffic areas the correct amount of light will reduce the amount of slips trips and falls.

Another crucial element of the I.E.S.N.A. recommendations is that wherever sustained work is carried out a minimum light level of 20 ft candles should be maintained. Again where workers are carrying out lengthy maintenance during dark hours the correct amount of light will increase productivity and reduce accidents.

Electrically speaking there is a crucial element to safe working levels. When a worker fails to see an electrical conductor or fails to see an electrical hazard or misreads an electrical warning we are sadly aware of the potential consequences. Electrical workers are often found working in poorly illuminated areas such as motors, or inside panels. Consider the fact that we might spend large sums of money on performing an Arc Flash analysis of an electrical panel, provide the panel with an Arc Flash label for the worker to read and provide him with PPE according to the labels. However we place the electrical drawing insidethe enclosure. Forcing the worker to open the panel before he can familiarize himself with the contents and voltage sources. We rarely provide the worker with a light inside or outside the panel so that he can clearly see any hazards.

These are just a few of the opportunities to use lighting as a safety tool. It might just be the best way to cost effectively reduce accidents.