Safety Update

Safety Update: Lighting Maintenance - Part I

By Mick Walton, BJ Electric and Tim Driscoll, P.Eng., Shell 

As we move rapidly forward on new electrical safety standards and arc flash protection there is an element to safety practices that is often left unquestioned and unanswered - and that is lighting.  How does lighting affect safety performance and can we use lighting as an effective safety tool? 

Any light bulb used in the workplace has a predictable end of life. We know for example, that the average High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lamp will fail somewhere between 18,000 and 24,000 hours of life.  Given the huge quantities of these lamps used on our industrial work sites we know that lamp replacement is an ongoing issue for our workforces.  One oil sand facility has over 18,000 HPS lamps on site and roughly one third of these lamps will need to be replaced annually.  At a conservative estimate of 1 hour per lamp replacement that means 6000 hours of work.  Lamp replacements and lighting maintenance is viewed as a menial task by our workforces.  However, 347 volt lighting has been pinpointed as the leading cause of death amongst electrical workers. 

The fixtures are often inaccessible and the only way they can be reached is by the use of ladders or fall arrest equipment.  As one leading electrical engineer states “lighting maintenance is extremely hazardous to our workers. The work is often performed with live voltages present, in hazardous locations and in elevated locations.” 

The most effective way to deal with these issues is to design and engineer the “problem out”.  Provide an effective way of isolating light fixtures in the industrial environment with line of site for the worker. 

Make electrical consulting firms provide a detailed maintenance plan with their lighting designs.  Show owners how the fixtures can be isolated and how they can be safely reached. 

Remember, this type of work occurs with startling regularity.  In the case of the above mentioned oil sands facility there is an average of 1.64 lamps being replaced every day.

In the next issue Part II - Lighting Safety.

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