How we can better learn from electrical accidents

This paper addresses benefits of having a heavily populated electrical safety incident database from which to make decisions on equipment and system design, work practices, training, and improvement programs. Limitations of national and industry electrical accident databases are reviewed. The paper emphasizes the importance of thorough investigation of near miss incidents to validate recommendations from incidents with injuries and includes an analysis of 600 electrical safety incident investigations in one large chemical company. Findings derived from the analysis have business, manufacturing, engineering, behavioral and regulatory impact