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Health, Safety & Environmental Bulletin No 077

S Martin – 15 February 2008

Exposed electrical components

The photos below show the situation that BP’s electrical maintenance contractor found on a service
station in Birmingham this week when they attended due to a reported electrical fault on the MID.

The panels had been removed by impact damage
and an Xmo Strata crew attended in November
to survey the damage.

The sign engineer reported that these panels
could not be re-fixed to the sign, and that he had
left them in a locked area behind the store, as he
had not enough space on the van to take them
away with him.

At the time of the survey the electrics had been
turned off by the site staff, so the engineer
removed the tubes and taped a bag over the sign
to attempt to protect it from the elements.

BP’s electrical maintenance contractor has now
correctly disconnected and isolated the power.

Under no circumstances should a sign be left with
exposed electrical cables and components. A plastic
bag taped around the MID is clearly inadequate and
not fit for purpose, especially when looking at the
exposed nature of this MID – the wind probably
destroyed the bag within hours.

The circuit was not locked or otherwise isolated to
prevent it being re-energized, this again is
unacceptable. Where there is any risk of water ingress
into or onto electrical components, or any risk of
people coming into contact with components, then the
circuit should be switched off and locked off.
Consider the worst thing that could happen – maybe a
child could put his hand in and touch a live
component? If there is any doubt contact your
supervisor or an Xmo Veritas electrician. In the photos it can be clearly seen that there are exposed
cables in a public area where children could easily reach them.