Electrical Safety Program

Overview

Each year, electrical fatalities affect hundreds and electrical injuries affect thousands of people at work. Occupational electrical hazards exist in construction, maintenance and repair, transportation, farming, and even in management. Electrical Safety awareness and training can minimize electrical hazards in the work area and can help prevent the occurrence of serious injury and harm. Please refer to the UC Berkeley Electrical Safety program and resources below.

Workplace Electrical Injuries Infographic, Data, & Charts (2003 - 2019)

The Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) uses the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) and Survey of Occupational Injuries (SOII) to distill information specifically pertaining to fatal and nonfatal occupational electrical injuries. Each year the ESFI publishes electrical injury information in tabular and graphical form on our website. The most recent data covers the 27 year period from 1992-2019 but mainly focuses on 2011-2019 data.

Fatal Electrical Injuries Summary

  • There were 166 electrical fatalities in 2019, which was a 3.75% increase over 2018 and the highest number of electrical fatalities since 2011.
  • Contact with / exposure to electric current accounted for 3% of all fatalities in 2019, maintaining the same percentage as in 2018.
  • Electrical fatality rates were 0.11 fatalities per 100,000 workers, the rate for all fatalities was 3.6 per 100,000 workers in 2019.
  • The construction industry had the highest rate of fatal electrical injuries (0.7 / 100,000) followed by utility (0.4 / 100,000) in 2019. All industries had 0.1 fatalities per 100,000 workers.
  • In 2019, 8% of all electrical injuries were fatal.

Using Equipment with Electrical Hazards 

Do you have new equipment with Electrical hazards? 

Electrical Safety at UC Berkeley

The UC Berkeley Electrical Safety Program provides information about electrical hazards, guides University safe-work policy, electrical safety procedures, equipment design, development and installation for all electrical work, equipment and systems at UC Berkeley. All faculty, staff, students, visitors and contractors must comply with the requirements of this program as it ensures their safety by:

  • Defining safe work practices and use requirements for all people who work with electrically energized equipment as part of their normal job / research duties.
  • Establishing training requirements for "qualifying" and "authorizing" persons who work on or near energized electrical circuits and components, and establishing "qualification" requirements for UCB-hired electrical contractors.
  • Establishing a process for evaluating the hazards of every potentially energized electrical work task and for determining appropriate hazard controls.
  • Establishing a formal process for controlling energized electrical work through an assessment and documented "energized work" or "Energized Work Permit" process.

The UC Berkeley Electrical Safety Program must be applied to every individual piece of equipment, research/experimental apparatus or facility that has electrical energy as a source of power and/or utility distribution in compliance with Cal/OSHA code, California Electrical Code, California Building/Construction Code and NFPA Life Safety Code.

For basic information about Electricity and Electrical Safety, please review the Fact Sheet to become familiar with electrical hazards and controls.