Advancing Electrical Safety Towards a Global Electrical Work Safety Standard

For decades, international standardization for electrical equipment has been advancing electrical safety, reducing product design costs, and making it easier to design products for larger markets. By following international standards, the product can be designed to fulfil the requirements in both North American and European markets, as well as in many other countries in the world. However, despite the hazards of electricity being the same for human beings wherever in the world, no international electrical work safety standard has been prepared. In 2020, a new project committee for writing a global electrical work safety standard was accepted in the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission). In this paper, a comprehensive comparison of the contents and approach of three major electrical work safety standards, the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) 70E® (United States), Canadian Standards Association's (CSA) Z462 (Canada) and European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization's (CENELEC) European Norm (EN) 50110 (Europe) is carried out. In addition, types, and incidence rates of electrical accidents in the countries applying the standard are discussed, as well as the electrical safety legislation. Despite the physical dangers of electric current being the same ubiquitously, the installation practices as well as the work safety legislation and cultural issues can be a challenge for implementing a global electrical work safety standard. Ideally, a standard combining the best practices in all major local standards should be the goal for the international standard.