Safe isolation in-depth, essential information for AM2 AM2S AM2E 2391
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 พ.ย. 2020
- In this video I go in-depth into how I deal with safe isolation, to help people at work, and the AM2.
Because of the length of video you can skip to the parts you want to see.
General considerations and chat about circuit finders 0min - 16:40s
Safe isolation of a single phase circuit
16:40s - 28:28s
Safe isolation of a single phase board
16:40s - 39:15s
Safe isolation of a 3-phase circuit
39:15s - 54:46s
Safe isolation of a 3-phase board
54:46s - 01:12:38s
Recap
01:12:38s - 01:17:16s
I’m this video I would like to primarily thank Test Instrument Solutions for donating the test equipment and lockout kit I was using, which will also be available to win in the new #safeisolation competition.
Also used was a plug-in socket tester, and plug-in light adapters from Kewtech, supplied by Envision Electrical London.
Lock off kit from Ideal industries
Circuit finder and lock off kit from Martindale
Everyone has the right to come home safely and I personally would argue that a full safe isolation kit, including lockout, and proving unit are an essential piece of PPE, and should be provided by employers under the Health and Safety at Work Act, as it states:
Your employer must provide free of charge any equipment and protection necessary for you at work (such as clothing, shoes or boots, eye and ear protection, gloves, masks etc) and ensure it is properly looked after.
It goes on to say... The employer should think about what could harm you at work, and do things that will stop anything that might harm you, they should provide you with the right tools and equipment to help keep you safe.
The relevant regulations are the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992.
Regulation 4 states:
Every employer shall ensure that suitable personal protective equipment is provided to his employees who may be exposed to a risk to their health or safety while at work except where and to the extent that such risk has been adequately controlled by other means which are equally or more effective.
For me that says it all.
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Just passed my AM2S first time, and it’s purely thanks to your channel and GSH. So just came back to say thank you, I literally would be planning my resit now if it weren’t for your videos. As you say, the raw material may be there but the videos are so helpful in order to consolidate it. Cheers again 👍🏻
Congratulations 🙌👏
You are more than welcome 👊
Thanks very much for your video. That is absolutely amazing, far better than any other courses out there!
Thank you 🤗
Super informative and helpful videos, as my am2 exam is coming very soon. Probably best preparation you can find on youtube! Highly recommended to all learners and for people who are working already, to be sure they doing it in right way. All the best of luck Adrian!
A great video Adrian, very clear and in depth for both apprentices and time served sparkys as a reminder. Safe isolation is one of the most important steps we take to go home in the evenings.
One point to note, most rotary 'isolators' are actually switch disconnectors, therefore load break. All in the notation! Take care pal
Thank you 🙏
This is great and guarantees safety. However even with the hazard assessment and lockout and tagout the greater worry is when you are working around multiple cables some of which can be live say in a loft or in a false ceiling. Catching your feet on the cable or slipping off a ladder and live conductors get wrapped your arm or tools. Switching off those cables as well will be important. I would be wearing insulated PPE as well and working with non-conductive ladders.
One common situation we often see is when you are working on a EICR in an empty property people will prove dead at DB and circuit point. However very few if any would lockout and tagout. Assuming that no one else in the property. True the risk of someone else coming to the property is very small it’s still not zero. However more than any of that is that adding an additional lockout and tagout even in an empty property is an extra step that is consciously making you think what you are doing - thinking is the greatest asset.
Very helpful, thank you for sharing
Done my Am2s this week Monday and Tuesday , get my results this Monday or Tuesday coming
Honestly thought it was a peice of piss , you get the wiring diagrams infront of you , if you can read and don’t have ADHD ( get extra time if you do )
Then you will find it fairly easy , only part I might of failed on was the fault finding , even online exam was piss easy it’s open book if you look for key words you can then refer to the book
Awesome 👏
Have you seen my AM2 feedback form?
docs.google.com/forms/d/1WIZjQIOE9BStb1jur3cJQX39QiClJ6f2XKykrkNC7Pg/edit
Brilliant in depth video, keep them coming great work 👍
Thank you 🙏
top work as usual, i find this very useful especially having the single phase distribution circuit safely isolated too. I recently failed the safe isolation due to removing the cover for my individual circuit isolations. A mistake that will not be made again.
Thank you 🙌🤗
I’ve made a shorter safe isolation video recently, I would be interested in knowing your thoughts on comparing the two
th-cam.com/video/KbD0hxOpWOg/w-d-xo.html
Really Helpful, thanks Adrian.
You are more than welcome 🤝
Thank you so much for this video.
You are welcome 👊
Good video Adrian, one of the first things I bought was a fuse finder as an apprentice, as I worked for a maintenance company looking after corporate offices, where you couldn’t just flick mcb’s off without affecting the client. Brilliant bit of kit that’s saved me a few times.
Every electrician should have one 🙌
Brilliant mate nice one..👍
Thank you 🙏
Keep up the good work adrian
Thank you 🙏
Great video presentation Adrian! I really like the way you avoid just simplistically teaching the process and challenge your learners to think "real world". This makes it far more difficult for you to share your knowledge but it does make the content more thought provoking and useful in the field. Big take away for me is your mantra "to be in control of the electricity" and the "Tree" analogy. Quick question: When you isolated the 3 Phase Board you did the 10 tests on the Load side. Would it make sense to do this on the Supply side instead/also?
Thank you Tim, when you isolated the board, you are isolating the load from the supply so the load should be ‘dead’ and that is what you are checking for with safe isolation.
The best way to isolate a board is upstream, that way the supply into the board would be dead as well.
However, this setup is designed to represent a typical situation where you cannot isolate the supply coming in because it would mean breaking the seal on DNO’s main fuse, which we cannot do, so under the EAWR you can work live in situations where it is not possible to isolate, providing a risk assessment is carried out.
In most boards of this type, once the main switch is isolated you have IPX2 and the only thing that is live is the supply side of the main switch.
For me, working on the ‘dead’ load side is minimising the working live aspect as it’s limited to the supply side with IPX2. If you were to start testing on the ‘live’ side then you are live working and the risk assessment would need changing and risk would increase as a result.
So, why put yourself in that position when there is no need, or benefit?
We know the supply is live and we are treating it as such, and we are working on the ‘dead’ side and isolated from the hazard.
The risk is therefore low.
Does that make sense?
@@Pure_electrical_training Thanks Adrian. Makes complete sense. I was assuming in the scenario here that the supply isolator was after the meter so it seemed to suggest I could check for isolation of supply and isolation of load on both sides of the main switch.
Your videos Adrian are unbelievable! great job! I am looking at doing my am2, but have a few gaps in my experience in regards to the components I will be installing. I know you have said you are given a spec to follow. Does that mean that I am provided with a wiring diagram for each component and part of the installation. As I think I will be fine as long as I can refer to wiring diagrams
You are provided with everything that you need, including wiring diagrams and layout diagrams 👍
AM2s booked for next month, do they supply circuit breaker finders at test centre?
You only tested the bus bar side of 3 phase board after you took off the cover ?? Was this correct. You did not test for the supply side of the 3 phase isolation switch. Was this not working live without testing ?? Please clarify this point. Thanks
Safe isolation at the main isolator only isolates the supply side from the load side, so only the load side (busbar) is dead and this is what you are proving.
When you test on a training rig, the supply side will most likely be dead, as live working is one-on-one. So, be careful which side you are testing.
I’ve done another safe isolation video to explain more, which you can watch here:
th-cam.com/video/KbD0hxOpWOg/w-d-xo.html
@@Pure_electrical_training thanks
Hi Adrian, i have noticed when you safe isolated the lighting circuit on the single phase board you have done your voltage testing on the actual light but not on the cb on the board, in the am2 can we just test for voltage on the light or we also need to remove the board cover off and test the lighting circuit cb to earth and neutral bar, it might be a silly question but i haven't isolated single circuits at school it was always the full board and we were told after testing on the main switch that it was good practice to test each individual cb to earth and neutral bar.Thanks in advance really great videos .
Hello and thank you for reaching out.
You never gain access to a live part unless it is safely isolated, with the exception of isolating the main switch in a board, and the supply still being live.
th-cam.com/video/KbD0hxOpWOg/w-d-xo.htmlsi=_5T2Wj6soKtcuuXx
@Pure_electrical_training so that means i shouldn't get the cover out and test for voltage the cb that controls the light when i can test it on the luminaire itself? Cheers
@@sandrosilva7145 If you take the fuseboard cover off without isolating the main switch first, then you fail.
If you isolate the main switch to safely isolate a lighting circuit, that would be like switching the whole commercial installation off to work on a light fitting.
You would not do that in the real world
@Pure_electrical_training thank you mate i got it now 👍
Great video, who would have thought you’d get 1 hour 17 minutes out of a safe isolation video!! It’s a very important step that is sadly overlooked by the vast majority of working sparkies, unfortunately familiarity breeds complacency.
One thing I’d like to pick up on is at 47.45 you mention that to work on the rotary isolator you need to isolate at the mcb. That makes sense. 👍
However, when isolating a main-switch inside a consumer unit, and locking the main switch off accordingly. It is deemed acceptable to remove the consumer unit cover with live terminals exposed on top of the “isolated” main switch.
How is this practice acceptable for work inside a consumer unit, but not on the rotary isolator?
Thank you for the feedback and I completely agree with what you’ve said.
With regards to the having live terminals in a consumer unit, it states in the EAWR 1989 Regulation 14 that:
No person shall be engaged in any work activity on or so near any live conductor (other than one suitably covered with insulating material so as to prevent danger) that danger may arise unless -
(a) it is unreasonable in all the circumstances for it to be dead; and
(b) it is reasonable in all the circumstances for him to be at work on or near
it while it is live; and
(c) suitable precautions (including where necessary the provision of suitable
protective equipment) are taken to prevent injury.
I then talk about the hierarchy of control and if possible the most effective way to deal with a hazard is to, eliminate the hazard.
On a consumer unit that is fed from the mains, where we cannot isolate the supply, we have no choice but to leave the supply terminals live, so we can only use Engineering controls and Admin controls.
Also if you are carrying out an earth fault loop test, and prospective fault current test, then we need the terminals to be live, but again we safely isolate the board first.
Unfortunately, in our job we do sometimes have to work live, but only when satisfying EAWR regulation 14.
In all other instances we should be using the most effective form of removing a hazard, which is elimination.
That is how I interpret it anyway 🤝
@@Pure_electrical_training thanks for the detailed response. That all makes sense, so in the first instance “eliminate” the danger. Then when that cannot be achieved (the tails cannot be isolated from source) we use engineering and admin controls to minimise the danger. So in that situation the electrician should remain in front of the isolated consumer unit to prevent unskilled persons coming into contact, and obviously reinstall the cover if moving away from the consumer unit. Great video Adrian keep them coming👍
@@Pure_electrical_training Brilliant video but I need some help understanding the rationale being applied in a domestic setting please. I have looked at numerous videos being posted by various colleges, and I am still none the wiser. They appear to adopt single pole isolation as standard practice.
My past industry experience of safe systems of working on electrical systems, required me to ensure that safe isolation on the circuit being worked was accomplished by ensuring all current carrying conductors that can become live/charged on that circuit, were isolated and proved dead before working. Live working was only permitted if it was imperative to do so, and only if the task was properly risk assessed with the appropriate controls identified/resourced and put in place.
The area that I find confusing, in the context of adhering to EAWR as strictly as possible in a domestic setting, does safe isolation require a circuit to be isolated from the relevant circuit Neutral conductor in addition to the relevant circuit Line conductor i.e. double pole isolation? or is the Neutral conductor not considered to be live/charged at any time during normal operation and as such, safe isolation via a locked off single pole MCB is deemed appropriate industry best practice to achieve safe isolation in these settings? Any help would be really appreciated.
My thoughts:
In the context of carrying out electrical work in the domestic setting (where children may possibly reside), the electrical engineer, having made sure the relevant circuit is isolated and proved dead before working, may at times whilst working on exposed conductors, find they must nip off back to the van to get something, leaving said conductors temporarily exposed and unguarded. These conductors could be within arm’s reach.
My rough analysis (but I may be wrong, hence my questions) concludes:
a) Single phase functional circuits found in a domestic setting are part of wider reaching three phase distribution systems.
b) Roughly speaking, it is my understanding that the Neutral under normal conditions is subject to Line voltages, but it is the sum of these voltages being applied across it (system wide), that maintains it to or about 0 volts. Therefore this conductor must be live.
c) A L-N fault occurring elsewhere on circuits using a common Neutral, will temporarily raise that Neutral to Line Voltage.
d) The functional domestic circuit being worked on, will not be isolated away from the risks posed by other electrical engineers carrying out work on the three-phase distribution network feeding the domestic installation, if the Neutral of the circuit being worked on is not isolated.
Looking at the EAWR:
Charged/live (as used in regulations 8, 13 and 14)
- The terms ‘charged’ and ‘live’ have different meanings; they are not defined in the Regulations so they take their ordinary meaning. ‘Live’ means equipment that is at a voltage by being connected to a source of electricity.
Dead (as used in regulations 13 and 14)
- The term ‘dead’ is not defined in the Regulations so it takes its ordinary meaning. Thus, in the context of the Regulations, for a conductor to be ‘dead’ means that it is neither ‘live’ nor ‘charged’.
Adrian I'm not here to criticise or anything as I really like your vids however at 22.14 you explained well the need to prove your tester but then went in for potentially live test without checking device for damage or against gs38 guideline🧐.do I get an isolation kit as a late bonus
I have my inspection n test coming up very soon gotta stay sharp
Have a look around 34mins as I talk about it then.
When I made this video, it was before I started editing them and to try and get everything right first time without scripting was extremely difficult, so I apologies for that.
Thank you for watching and pointing these things out, that way I can learn and grow 🙌
Hi mate could you please explain the reasoning behind locking off an isolated circuit about 37mins in? Struggling to get my head round it thanks
And same again about an hour in to the video , locking off a consumer unit before isolating the whole install? Will they be looking for this in am2s
Great video , mentioned so many things I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise!
I was demonstrating that in a real life situation the distribution boards would probably not be in front of each other like that.
When isolating or reinstating electricity you need to be in control of it at all times and to know what has become live, and who is in danger.
You cannot do that if you just switch on the whole supply to a sub board that itself isn’t isolated, and you would not be in control, so my point was to isolated the sub board and lock off.
That way I can switch the supply on to the sub board, but the circuits are still dead.
I can then go to that sub board, disconnect the isolation device from the main switch and reinstate one circuit at a time after I feel that it is safe to do so.
In control at all times.
You only have one board in the AM2, not sure about the safe isolation task, so would be good to know 👍
Can we still enter the competition? Superb video BTW.
I’m going to be setting it up soon, watch this space 🙌
ho from gary sparks wales a chance of doing some videoes on how to convert a petrol car to electric drive with power cells and how to set it up
Try John Ward 😂
Blooody hell might aswell ask him to turn a Xbox into a formula 1 race car
Needs hinge and door earth
We all work live regularly if u don't understand how your body can be part of a circuit, understanding the basics of current, voltage and the path it takes should be fully understood then they can consider safe isolation for other ppl working or around you am2? Bullshido.......who has the confidence to touch a live exposed cable. If you fall off a bike you know its limits. Sorry for ranting but meter installers need to go to fooo at look atleast 5 times 25DI tails fell out in my hand only protected with a 100 amp fuse easily able to a ka for a couple seconds. Gnight