RAMS — Working with electricity (isolation, supplies & services)

What you need to know

The plain-English guidance that comes with this document.

• Electrical work is competent-person work — full stop. This RAMS supports a qualified electrician's safe method; it isn't a licence for anyone to have a go. The Electricity at Work Regulations expect the person to be competent for the task.
• Lock off, tag, prove dead — in that order, every time. Isolate at the source, lock it so nobody can re-energise it, tag it, then prove it's dead at the point of work with a tester you've proved on a known source. Assuming a circuit is dead is how electricians die.
• Find services before you dig or fix. Buried cables and overhead lines kill. Scan with a CAT & Genny, use the drawings, dig by hand near services, and keep plant and long materials well clear of overhead lines — use goal-posts and exclusion zones.
• Site supplies: 110V, RCD, off the ground. Reduced-voltage supplies, RCD protection, and boards and leads kept dry and out of walkways are the basics of a safe temporary supply.
• Don't touch a shocked casualty until it's isolated — or you become the second casualty. Know where the main switch is before you start.
• Starting point — get it signed off. Edit for your job and have a competent person review it. Higher-risk electrical work near live HV, substations or complex isolations is beyond this everyday RAMS.