Prevention of Electrical Accidents - General Information

The widespread use of electrical energy in all its applications and in all fields (from the production of electrical energy to the end consumer) means that electrical risk is present everywhere, and must be assessed and controlled on every occasion.

Present and invisible like all the risks inherent in higher forms of energy, it does have the merit of being well known and easy to control, which, all things considered, makes it almost familiar and in any case less feared than, for example, the danger of ionizing radiation.

Articles [D 5 101], [D 5 102] and [D 5 103] , each in their own part, develop ways of understanding, analyzing and controlling electrical risk.

This article presents the accident statistics to date and the fundamentals of electric shocks and currents passing through the human body. Although the relative weight of accidents of electrical origin does not appear to be very high compared with those caused by other risks, such as traffic and the domestic environment, prevention is nonetheless essential, especially in certain sectors of activity that are more particularly exposed to risk, such as construction, public works, electrical installations in industry and public distribution networks.

Article [D 5 102] sets out the rules for the construction and installation of electrical works and installations.

Article [D 5 103] describes the operation of electrical works and installations, i.e. all construction, maintenance, repair and dismantling operations, as well as fire prevention in these installations.