NECA Celebrates National Electrical Safety Month with PPE Selector

By Consulting Specifying Engineer Staff May 15, 2006

Every year in America, electricity kills nearly 400 people, injures thousands more, and sparks an estimated 140,000 fires that cost billions of dollars in property damage. Most of these incidents are preventable. That’s the message of National Electrical Safety Month , observed each May.

This annual awareness campaign is organized by the Electrical Safety Foundation International, with support from the National Electrical Contractors Assn. and other allies. ESFI has posted several tools and resources so electrical professionals can share the message of safety with their communities.

NECA also helps contractors meet important safety requirements with the newly published Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Selector . While NFPA 70E is the leading standard for the worksite protection, applying the complex standard to determine what personal protective clothing and equipment should be worn in the field can be difficult. NECA’s Personal Protective Equipment Selector simplifies this task.

Both the manual and interactive CD-ROM identify protective clothing needed for selected tasks as specified in the standard. The manual includes a color-coded pictorial guide to the equipment, and handouts from the CD can be used to educate workers on the correct safety gear for different jobs.