Insights from NFPA's National Electrical Safety Month Discussion

Each May, the NFPA joins the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) to promote National Electrical Safety Month, a campaign that educates both the public and professionals on the risks associated with electricity.

This year's focus highlights the reality that electrical hazards continue to cause injuries and deaths in both homes and workplaces. This is often caused by old wiring (degraded over time and/or from an older era of fire codes), improper use of equipment, or insufficient training.

NFPA's recent blog calls attention to these risks and offers proactive steps to reduce electrical fire and shock hazards.

Let's walk through several key points from the article and expand on their practical applications. When you finish reading, you'll know how to use monitoring systems to support safer environments and prevent electrical hazards.

Raising Awareness is Step One

NFPA emphasizes that education plays a critical role in reducing incidents caused by electrical hazards.

"By educating the public on electrical safety, we can help create safer environments in our homes, workplaces, and communities," said Lorraine Carli, NFPA vice president of Outreach and Advocacy.

This initiative is meant to empower people to recognize hazards before those risks lead to fire or shock. Hazards to look out for include overloaded outlets, unsafe extension cord usage, and DIY wiring attempts.

In commercial and industrial buildings, the same principle applies: creating a safe environment starts with awareness and accountability.

Staff should understand how systems function, what alarm signals mean, and how to interpret trouble alerts from their fire alarm and electrical monitoring equipment. It's not enough to install safety gear - teams must know how to use and respond to it.

Electrical Hazards Cause a Wide Range of Incidents

The NFPA and ESFI provide stark data about the real-world consequences of unmanaged electrical systems.

"Contact with electricity is a leading cause of home and workplace injuries and fatalities."

At home, improper appliance use, outdated wiring, and blocked ventilation around heat-producing equipment contribute to thousands of fires each year. In workplace settings, arc flash, energized equipment, and unknown faults pose major threats. This is especially true when equipment is assumed to always be safe.

For buildings of any type, electrical hazards need to be monitored just like fire risks. Electrical panels, generators, HVAC systems, and surge-sensitive infrastructure can all benefit from alarm and fault monitoring. By integrating these systems with a central head-end, you can get a complete picture of your electrical health, improving both safety and operational reliability.

Safety Starts with Qualified Installation and Maintenance

NFPA tells homeowners to hire professionals rather than attempt their own repairs or modifications.

"Have all electrical work done by a qualified electrician."

While this advice is aimed at individual homeowners, it's equally as important in commercial settings. When electrical systems are installed or altered by unqualified personnel, they can create vulnerabilities that aren't immediately obvious. In some cases, a faulty connection or overloaded branch can function for months before eventually causing a fire.

For larger facilities and campuses, combining licensed installations with real-time monitoring is the ideal solution. A system like the Prism LX head-end can help detect power disruptions, ground faults, and electrical trouble signals.

Temporary Workarounds Can Lead to Permanent Damage

The article also includes multiple tips about proper appliance use and the dangers of relying on temporary fixes, noting that:

"Major appliances should be plugged directly into a wall receptacle outlet. Extension cords and surge protectors should not be used."

The blog goes on to highlights that:

"Extension cords are intended for temporary use. Have a qualified electrician add more receptacle outlets..."

Improper use of power distribution tools like extension cords, power strips, or temporary wiring solutions continues to be a major cause of residential and workplace fires. These devices are often overloaded or used in high-demand environments without being rated for the load.

Facilities should be regularly inspected for makeshift setups. These checks are especially useful in maintenance closets, server rooms, and staff break areas.

In addition to regular inspections, supervisory signals from your fire monitoring system can notify you when conditions around power circuits change. This includes when too much load is detected or protective relays are triggered.

Workplace Safety Depends on Lockout/Tagout and Testing Protocols

During any electrical maintenance worked to improve occupational safety, NFPA emphasizes proactive electrical hazard management in the workplace. They recommend that you:

"Be proactive about de-energizing equipment and take steps to ensure your work environment remains safe."

They continue by suggesting you:

"Always de-energize and follow established lockout/tagout procedures to save lives."

Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) procedures are critical in preventing arc flash or shock when working on electrical systems. However, the procedure is only as reliable as the awareness and compliance surrounding it.

Unfortunately, many accidents occur when circuits are assumed to be off or when verification steps are skipped.

You must have some way of logging LOTO events, alerting staff when systems return to service, or sending alerts when a re-energized device starts drawing unexpected current. This kind of logging helps your safety officers confirm that proper steps were followed, reducing the risk of accidental energization. Digitize equipment can help you with these goals in variety of ways.

PPE Is Critical, but So is Real-Time Information

While personal protective equipment (PPE) protects workers during high-risk tasks, knowing whether equipment is live is the first line of defense. NFPA provides a warning, stating that:

"Each year, workers are injured or killed by circuits thought to be safely turned off. Make sure to always test before you touch."

This reinforces a core tenet of electrical safety (and all other critical systems): trust, but verify. PPE is a backup plan, not a substitute for hazard elimination. The best way to protect workers is to give them the tools and system feedback needed to understand what's energized and what's not.

Facilities that use centralized monitoring platforms, like the Prism LX, can display alarm conditions and supervisory events across all zones. This includes those related to electrical systems.

Centralized monitoring allows maintenance teams to know whether an electrical zone has returned to normal after testing, and helps confirm that the work environment is truly safe before anyone re-enters it.

Most Electrical Fatalities Don't Involve Electricians

A lesser-known but critical insight from the article is the high rate of electrical fatalities among non-electrical workers.

"From 2011–2023, OSHA reports that 74 percent of workplace electrical fatalities occurred in non-electrical occupations."

This suggests that many workers injured by electricity aren't working on electrical systems at all. Instead, they may be custodial staff plugging in cleaning equipment, warehouse workers operating faulty machinery, or office personnel interacting with damaged cords or outlets.

That's why electrical safety isn't just an electrician's concern. It's a facility-wide responsibility. That includes ensuring that any faults, tripped breakers, or detected issues are flagged in a way that's visible and understandable to all building staff, not just the maintenance team.

The System 3505 Prism LX supports detailed event logging and zone labeling, making it easier for non-technical personnel to recognize issues and know when to escalate a problem to qualified staff.

A Safety Culture Requires Consistent Communication

NFPA closes their article by emphasizing tools that support awareness year-round.

NFPA resources - including webinars, fact sheets, and videos - help reinforce safe practices at home and in the workplace. But while awareness campaigns are a great start, safety culture must also be reinforced through infrastructure and system design.

For large campuses, monitoring systems like those offered by Digitize provide the consistent visibility and communication backbone that supports a proactive safety culture. Plus, with several training courses offered throughout the year, you can be sure your staff receives uniform instruction to avoid any miscommunications during an emergency.

Whether it's a zone fault, a power fluctuation, or a tamper signal on an electrical disconnect, having a head-end that tracks and reports the issue ensures that your facility's safety doesn't depend on luck.

Build a Monitoring Strategy That Supports Electrical Safety

Electrical fire prevention involves codebooks and PPE - but it's also about real-time awareness. Whether you're managing a municipal facility, commercial building, or industrial site, your safety program should include reliable monitoring of both fire and electrical infrastructure.

Digitize can help you:

• Monitor supervisory conditions and panel health in real time
• Identify and log events related to circuit faults or load changes
• Integrate alarm and electrical alerts through a single head-end interface
• Support incident documentation
• Equip your team with clear zone-based displays and programmable relays

Protect Your People, Property, and Power Infrastructure

Electrical hazards don't always give a warning. That's why reliable monitoring - combined with trained staff and proper planning - is essential.

Call 1-800-523-7232 or email info@digitize-inc.com to speak with an engineer about your current setup and how you can better align it with NFPA guidance and best practices.