Ground Fault Electrical Shock: Protect Your Warehouse Employees From It
If you take every precaution necessary to keep your workers safe, you may set up eyewash stations, emergency spill kits, and other equipment throughout your warehouse. But if you don't take extra precautions with your electrical outlets and other equipment, your employees can still be at risk for ground fault electrical shock. Learn more about ground fault electrical shock and how to keep your workers safe from it below.
What's Ground Fault Electrical Shock?
Ground fault electrical shock occurs when someone experiences an electric shock while using a saw, a floor scrubber, or another piece of equipment that relies partially or fully on electricity. Equipment that lacks the proper grounding, or safety measures, can be susceptible to energy surges and breaks.
Electricity tends to discharge or travel to the ground after something creates it. The ground provides the least resistance, or barrier, against electricity. Ground fault electrical shock occurs when electricity inadvertently travels through an object or person before it reaches the ground. The energy created by the electricity can be minor enough to disorientate you, or it can be hot enough to burn your skin. Some electrical shocks can lead to death.
You can keep your employees from experiencing ground fault electrical shock by grounding your power outlets.
How Can a Commercial Electrician Help You?
You should never attempt to ground the electricity in your building yourself. Grounding can expose you to all types of electrical hazards, including shock. Rather than ground your warehouse's electricity yourself, hire a commercial electrician instead.
In order to protect your workers from electrical shock injuries, a commercial electrician will need to install a ground-fault circuit interrupter, or GFCI, on every electrical outlet in your warehouse. GFCIs automatically send or direct electrical currents to the lowest point in your building or the ground.
An electrician will test your warehouse's outlets before they install GFCIs on them. An electrician must ensure your outlets can handle the electrical loads passing through them during operations. Electrical outlets that contain outdated, frayed, or damaged components won't convey electricity properly. The devices will experience regular breaks or surges in electricity instead.
If your warehouse's outlets require repairs or replacements, an electrician will complete the work before they install GFCIs on them. After a contractor secures your warehouse's outlets, they'll place ground-fault circuit interrupters on them.
If you worry about the safety of your electrical outlets, contact a commercial electrician for services today.
