Thankful for Electrical Safety: Steps to Strengthen Your Program This Season

A Moment to Reflect on What Keeps Your Team Safe

Electrical work brings real risk, and a solid electrical safety program is one of the strongest tools a facility can have to keep people protected. Clear processes, consistent training, and the right equipment make a difference every day, especially for the crews in the field. As the year wraps up, this season naturally brings a moment to step back and look at what is working well, where gaps show up, and what could be tightened up so the work stays safe and predictable.

Small improvements made now can support safer work, stronger decision making, and better protection for the people who do the job day in and day out.

Review Your Electrical Safety Program for Clarity and Consistency

Over time, a program can drift away from what is actually happening in the field. Equipment gets updated, tasks change, new people join the team, and procedures shift. Reviewing your electrical safety program now helps you see where things are aligned and where documentation or processes may need an update.

Consider checking:

How recently your electrical safety program was updated
Whether your procedures match NFPA 70E requirements
If workers understand the steps well enough to apply them in the field
Whether risk assessment practices are consistent across the team
If absence of voltage verification tools, such as ChekVolt, are being used to support safer lockout procedures

Permanent Electrical Safety Devices (PESDs) like ChekVolt support the absence of voltage test that is required during the LOTO process, allowing teams to perform this step without opening the enclosure. Moving this verification outside the enclosure supports safer decision making and helps reinforce the program in daily practice, especially during routine maintenance. For more on how PESDs support this part of electrical safety, we explored it in What are PESDs.

A strong program gives teams clarity. A reviewed program gives them confidence.

Look Closely at Energized Work Practices

Energized work is one of the most controlled and highest-risk areas in electrical maintenance. Even when teams are careful, small gaps in habits or unclear expectations can increase exposure without anyone realizing it.

It helps to take a closer look at areas such as:

Lockout tagout consistency
When energized work permits are required
Whether voltage testing tools match the tasks being performed
How well teams understand the steps for establishing an electrically safe work condition
The condition and use of arc flash and shock PPE
Where routine tasks can be moved outside the enclosure with tools like GracePorts

GracePorts make a noticeable difference in programming, troubleshooting, and routine interface work. Shifting these tasks outside the enclosure reduces time spent near energized components, supports safer workflows, and keeps maintenance aligned with written procedures.

Bringing routine functions outside the enclosure not only reduces exposure but also supports consistent, code-aligned practices. This connection to safer energized work is explored further in our post on why panel interface connectors play an important role in NFPA 70E compliance.

Strengthening energized work practices helps protect workers from hazards they cannot always see but can feel the impact of instantly when something goes wrong.

Support Your Team With Clear, Practical Training

A well-designed electrical safety program only works when the people using it understand it. Practical, consistent training is one of the best ways to support the work your team performs every day.

Training refreshers can help with:

Reinforcing safe habits
Aligning new workers with experienced workers
Reviewing common near misses
Addressing distractions and workload pressures that influence decision making
Strengthening confidence around job planning and hazard awareness

Understanding how workplace safety culture shapes everyday decisions can also help teams work more consistently, especially when pressure, deadlines, or routine tasks start to stack up. Better training builds stronger safety culture, and stronger culture leads to safer work.

Consider a Year-End Electrical Safety Assessment

A structured year-end assessment helps identify areas where your current approach may not fully align with standards or day-to-day work practices. Many facilities assume they are compliant simply because there have been no incidents or OSHA findings. However, not having problems with your current practices, and not being fined by OSHA in the past, does not mean you are in compliance.

A thorough assessment can help confirm:

Whether your written program matches what is done in the field
If risk assessment and job planning tools are being used consistently
Where updates to procedures or training could reduce risk
Whether your maintenance practices support electrical safety goals
How well your documentation aligns with NFPA 70E and NFPA 70B requirements

Understanding the role of electrical equipment maintenance is also an important part of this process, and we explored that connection in our article on NFPA 70B and electrical maintenance programs.

A strong assessment brings clarity to what is working, what needs improvement, and what can help keep your team safer going forward.

How the Grace Technologies Expert Network Can Help Strengthen Your Program

Some teams know their electrical safety program needs to be updated or built out more thoroughly, but it can be hard to know where to begin. The Grace Technologies Expert Network was created to make that process straightforward, organized, and realistic for facilities with busy maintenance, engineering, and operations teams.

The service provides a complete, licensed electrical safety program framework that can be tailored to your facility. This includes:

A complete set of tools and resources for building a compliant electrical safety program
Regulatory and liability support that strengthens worker confidence and reduces risk
Scalable processes that improve productivity and support measurable safety outcomes
A tailored electrical safety program aligned with your facility’s safety management system

See the full range of Expert Network consulting packages.

Strengthening Safety Moving Forward

A dependable electrical safety program is built through steady improvements that support the way real work gets done. Taking time to look at what is strong and where updates can reduce risk helps your team move forward with more clarity and confidence. When the people behind the equipment have clear expectations and solid processes to rely on, electrical work becomes safer and more predictable across the entire facility.