5 tips for working safely with electricity

When you have horticultural machines in your facility, you always have to deal with electricity. Working with electrical installations involves risks. That’s why we would like to give you 5 tips on working safely with electricity. But first we’ll highlight the biggest risks for you.

The risks of working with electricity

• The biggest risk of working with electricity in the greenhouse is the possibility of electrocution. When a part of a machine is under high voltage and you touch it, you will get a shock. This can happens mainly with horticultural machines that have not been properly maintained or are used incorrectly.
• Fire is a second risk. Especially with machines that run day and night, overheating is a possibility. When an electrical installation becomes overheated, there is a chance that the machine will catch fire.
• We sometimes see that electrical cables are not properly or neatly concealed. This can cause employees to trip over loose cables.

The 5 tips for working with electricity

1. Indicate dangerous places with hazard signs. In order to provide clarity to employees and visitors, it is important to hang hazard signs in areas where electrical installations are located. Examples of hazard signs that can be used for this purpose are: (Fire) danger, forbidden for unauthorized persons, do not touch and a sign indicating danger of electrical voltage.
2. Educate your employees. When dealing with electrical installations, it is important that only trained staff is allowed to work with these installations. Or at least have had a clear instruction. Trained staff knows what to look out for when replacing a component or carrying out safety maintenance.
3. Carry out regular maintenance on electrical installations in keeping with safety requirements. Installations that are not well maintained involve more risks. For example, make sure that all cables and other components are properly shielded when activated. Also ensure that no parts are loose or that defects are ignored.
4. Report defects in time. It is important that all employees remain alert to any defects in a machine, cable or other parts. The sooner these defects or faults are reported, the sooner action can be taken to solve these defects.
5. Draw up a checklist to identify the machines in the company. This also indicates how often an inspection must be carried out and how much time it takes. By introducing a control schedule, you will prevent situations from getting out of hand, resulting in fire or electrocution.