The IAS Electrical Safety Workshop: Celebrating 30 Years of Changing and Advancing the Electrical Safety Culture [History]

This year is the 30th anniversary of the IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS) Electrical Safety Workshop (ESW), which grew out of an initiative dating to the 1960s, when a core group of IAS members began collaborating on new approaches to control the risk of serious and fatal injuries involving industrial electric power systems. In 1969, Ralph Lee presented a groundbreaking paper, “Electrical Safety in Industrial Plants,” at the IAS Annual Meeting. The paper was published in the June 1971 issue of IEEE Spectrum and stimulated collaboration in the Maintenance, Operation, and Safety (MOS) Subcommittee of the IAS Power Systems Engineering Committee. In the late 1960s, Bill Jordan designed and implemented an arc flash injury prevention program at one of the largest industrial complexes in North America. In 1981, Lee presented a second landmark paper, “Arc Flash, the Other Electrical Hazard,” at the IAS Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.