Electrical Safety In The Workplace - CSA Standard

Electrical Safety In The Workplace is the title given to the CSA Z462 Arc Flash Standard. Canadian electrical workers are exposed to many daily hazards in the course of their work. Even so, until a few years ago, there were very few Canadian (i.e. Federal or Provincial) guidelines, Standards or Acts published to assist employers and employees to more effectively manage the electrical safety hazards or even to determine who is qualified to perform electrical work Since 2006 CSA has been developing CSAZ462 - “Electrical Safety in the Workplace”

CSA Z462: Electrical Safety In The Workplace, is based on the NFPA 70E, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace. CSA Z462 was also created in harmonization with the Canadian Electrical Code, as well as with CSA-Z460, Control of Hazardous Energy – Lockout and Other Methods, and with CSA-M421, Use of Electricity in Mines.

This Standard was prepared by the CSA Technical Committee on Workplace Electrical Safety, under the jurisdiction of the Strategic Steering Committee on Occupational Health and Safety. It will be submitted to the Standards Council of Canada for approval as a National Standard of Canada.

CSA Z462 - “Electrical Safety in the Workplace”
CSA-Z462 specifies requirements for and provides guidance on safety management systems and safe work procedures for persons working on electrical equipment and electrical systems and provides direction on the selection of personal protective equipment and other safety devices for electrical workers and maintenance personnel. It also establishes criteria for the identification and training of qualified electrical workers and for determination of hazardous work to be performed only by those qualified individuals.

CSA Z462 - “Electrical Safety in the Workplace”
Detailed information on:

1. Lockout
2. Annexes (for information only)
3. Wearing of protective clothing
4. Electrical Hazard labels and Arc Flash Shock labelling
5. Details of simplified 2 Category clothing, PPE systems
6. New Annex – Importance of using recognized Occupational Heath and Safety Management Standards
7. Provides guidance on Clothing, PPE requirements, and other electrical safety equipment such as insulated tools
8. User friendly - in how to determine Hazard Risk categories based on defined work practices and arc flash hazard levels
9. It complements CSA-Z460, and has a new annex on Lockout and concepts surrounding a comprehensive Lockout and Hazardous Energy Control program
10. Additional definitions covering workplace electrical safety with many revisions to existing definitions
11. Important information on the layering of PPE clothing
12. Metrification of all measurements

CSA Z462 - “Electrical Safety in the Workplace”

NFPA 70E-2004, Electrical Safety in the Workplace, provides assistance in determining severity of potential exposure, planning safe work practices, and selecting personal protective equipment to protect against shock and arc flash hazards.

ANSI Z535.4-2002, Product Safety Signs and Labels, provides guidelines for the design of safety signs and labels for application to products.

IEEE 1584-2002, Guide for Performing Arc-Flash Hazard Calculations, provides assistance in determining the arc flash hazard distance and incident energy that workers may be exposed to from electrical equipment.

For more information, see:

Electrical Safety OSHA

Lockout Tagout OSHA