ABSTRACT
Most of the studies found in the scientific literature that analyse occupational accidents caused by electrical contact do not make a distinction between the types of contact. However, analysing this could be especially relevant as avoiding this kind of accidents depends on the various forms of protection currently in use (Casini, 1993; Rossignol and Pineault, 1994). These forms of protection are included in international standards such as the one published by the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), Europeanlevel standards such as CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) or the Low Voltage Directive 73/23/EEC – 93/68/ EEC, in addition to national specifications that have been individually developed by each country. These standards determine that accidents due to electrical contact may originate both in electric installations or equipment, and they acknowledge two types of electrical contact and their corresponding forms of protection. One is direct electrical contact caused when someone touches a live conductor or element under normal circumstances. The international standard IEC 61140 (Protection against electrical contact-Common aspects for installation and equipment) defines the various means of protection against direct contacts and calls the whole set “basic protection”. The
1 INTRODUCTION
In relation to labour accidents, the potential hazard of exposure to electrical contact is present in most jobs (Jones et al., 1991). Moreover, accidents caused by electrical contact are a major concern due to their severe consequences (Chen et al., 1998; Batra and Ioannides, 2001) and the high proportion of fatal accidents they cause (Cawley et al., 2003; Suarez et al., 2013; Zhao et al., 2014). The level of threat which this type of accidents pose to the safety or even the lives of workers, is evidenced by various studies revealing discouraging figures. For example, in the construction sector in the United States alone it is estimated that every year about 350 workers die due to electrical contact (OSHA, 2010). A study conducted in the United States shows that between 1992 and 1998 there were 2,287 fatal occupational accidents due to electrical causes, which meant nearly one death a day (Cawley et al., 2003). Another study carried out in the United States from 2003 to 2006, describes the importance of electrical accidents in the construction industry (Janicak, 2008).
