Fluke - Ten dumb things smart people do when testing

Anyone who makes their livingby working with electricityquickly develops a healthyrespect for anything with even a remote chance of being “live.”Yet the pressures of the getting a job done on time or getting amission-critical piece of equip-ment back on line can result incarelessness and uncharacteristicmistakes by even the most sea-soned electrician. The list belowwas developed as a quickreminder of what not to do whentaking electrical measurements. 1. Replace the original fusewith a cheaper one. If your digital multimeter meetstoday’s safety standards,that fuse is a special safetysand fuse designed to popbefore an overload hits yourhand. When you changeyour DMM fuse, be sure toreplace it with an author-ized fuse. 2. Use a bit of wire or metalto get around the fuse alltogether. That may seem like a quick fix if you’recaught without an extrafuse, but that fuse could beall that ends up betweenyou and a spike headedyour way. 3. Use the wrong test tool forthe job. It’s important to match your DMM to thework ahead. Make sure yourtest tool holds the correctCAT rating for each job youdo, even if it means switch-ing DMMs throughout theday. 4. Grab the cheapest DMMon the rack. You can upgrade later, right? Maybenot, if you end up a victimof a safety accident becausethat cheap test tool didn’tactually contain the safetyfeatures it advertised. Lookfor independent laboratorytesting. 5. Leave your safety glassesin your shirt pocket. Take them out. Put them on. It’simportant. Ditto insulatedgloves and flame-resistantclothing. 6. Work on a live circuit. De-energize the circuitwhenever possible. If thesituation requires you towork on a live circuit, useproperly insulated tools,wear safety glasses or aface shield and insulatedgloves, remove watches orother jewelry, stand on aninsulated mat and wearflame-resistant clothing, notregular work clothes. 7. Fail to use proper lock-out/tag-out procedures. 8. Keep both hands on thetest. Don’t! When working with live circuits, rememberthe old electrician’s trick.Keep one hand in yourpocket. That lessens thechance of a closed circuitacross your chest andthrough your heart. Hang orrest the meter if possible.Try to avoid holding it withyour hands to minimize per-sonal exposure to the effectsof transients. 10 dumb things smart people do when testing electricity 9. Neglect your leads. Test leads are an important com-ponent of DMM safety. Makesure your leads match theCAT level of your job aswell. Look for test leadswith double insulation,shrouded input connectors,finger guards and a non-slipsurface. 10. Hang onto your old test tool forever. Today’s test tools contain safety featuresunheard of even a few yearsago, features that are worththe cost of an equipmentupgrade and a lot lessexpensive than an emer-gency room visit. Application Note

International safety standards  ANSI/ISA  S82.01-1994 Fluke. Keeping your world up and running. ©2003 Fluke Corporation. All rights reserved.Printed in the Netherlands 6/200310623-engrev. 01 Fluke CorporationPO Box 9090, Everett, WA USA 98206 Fluke Europe B.V.PO Box 1186, 5602 BD Eindhoven, The Netherlands For more information call:In the U.S.A. (800) 443-5853 or Fax (425) 446-5116In Europe/M-East/Africa (31 40) 2 675 200 or Fax (31 40) 2 675 222In Canada (800)-36-FLUKE or Fax (905) 890-6866From other countries +1 (425) 446-5500 or Fax +1 (425) 446-5116Web access: http://www.fluke.com