Page 4 - Xmo Strata - Bulletin Archive

7/2/2019 Page 1 of 3

Health, Safety & Environmental Bulletin No 002

29 April 2005 – M. Mott

ELECTRICAL WORK IN SIGN INDUSTRY

Electrical Works for Sign Installers

Electrical work is dangerous, around 1000 electrical accidents at work are reported to HSE each year and
about 30 people die of their injuries.

You should never work on any electrical equipment unless it is turned off. Live working is illegal except
in very specific circumstances that would never apply to the sign industry.

In some cases in the sign industry it can be unclear where the boundary lies between the sign fitters and
the electrician’s responsibilities. Some clients have tried to define this, by stating that no electrical work
is to be carried out by sign fitters and others simply insist on work only being carried out by a competent
person. Where no such definition is imposed it has been down to individuals and historic practice to
define the boundary, sometimes this is the transformer, sometimes a fireman’s switch, other times a local
junction box. Wherever is chosen, this position should be defined at the planning stage and responsibility
for circuit design, loading, connecting and testing specified. The location chosen should be as close to
the sign as possible, the choice of a fireman’s switch as the boundary should only be adopted if it is local
to the sign (within a couple of meters) and only switches the sign.

IF YOU ARE UNCLEAR, DO NOT CARRY OUT THE WORK – ASK

YOUR SUPERVISOR OR MANAGER!!!!

Earthing / Bonding

All illuminated signs must be suitably earthed. If the sign enclosure is metal, this should be bonded.

Earthing and Bonding is required to ensure that in the event of a fault causing the metalwork to become
live, then the fuse or circuit breaker will trip. If the metalwork is not adequately earthed, then the
enclosure can remain live without detection indefinitely. If a maintenance worker, or member of the
public touches the metalwork they would then receive a potentially lethal shock.

C:\Users\JMartin\OneDrive - Xmo Strata LTD\Desktop\temp bulletins\Bulletin Archive\Health, Safety &
Environmental Bulletin No 2 Electrical Work.doc