Electricity has become such an ingrained part of our daily lives, and yet it is still incredibly dangerous when not treated with respect and proper safety procedures.

In recognition of Electrical Safety Month, we would like to share the following statistics on electrical fatalities* to reinforce the importance of electrical safety.

1. 154 electrical fatalities occurred during 2016, representing a 15% increase over the 2015 total.
2. Of those injuries 53% were in construction and 18% were in professional and business services.
3. 98% of fatal electrical injuries occurred in the Private sector and 2% in the Government sector.
4. In 2016, there was one electrical fatality for every 34 fatalities from all causes.
5. The self-employed constituted 26% of all workers suffering a fatal electrical injury 2016, up from 20% in 2015.
6. Electrocutions constituted the vast majority of electrical fatalities while electrical burns of all degrees were responsible for four fatalities.
7. Workers in Private sector industries that produce goods (Natural Resources and Mining, Construction, and Manufacturing) sustained 67% of on-the-job electrical fatalities in 2016, while workers in the Service providing industries sustained 33%.
8. Exposure to electric current increased one place to sixth on the list of occupational exposures leading to fatal on-the-job injury, trading places with aircraft fatalities.
9. The rate of fatal electrical injury from all causes rose by 3.43 per 100,000 employees in 2016.
10. Younger workers experience fatal electrical injury at up to 2.3 times the frequency of more experienced workers.

If you don't want your employees to become another statistic, there are steps you can take.

1. Make sure your employees are trained in lockout/tagout procedures.
2. Make sure that you are complying with and enforcing electrical safety standards in the workplace.
3. Make sure your employees are using the right PPE with the correct level of electrical insulation.
4. Follow these 14 safety tips to prevent workplace accidents.

Looking for more ideas on how to provide your employees with the training and PPE they need to protect themselves from electricity? Talk to one of our safety advisors today.

Arbill is a safety solutions company. We are all about protecting your workers in the workplace. Our mission is to keep workers safe and return them home safely at the end of the day. Visit arbill.com for more information about being safe and subscribe to Safer Every Day, the definitive digital magazine for workplace safety.

* The Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) uses the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) and Survey of Occupational Injuries (SOII) to distill information specifically pertaining to fatal and nonfatal occupational electrical injuries. Each year the ESFI publishes electrical injury information in tabular and graphical form on our website. The most recent data covers the 23-year period from 1992-2016, but mainly focuses on 2003-2016 data.