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High Voltage Connector Types: Which One is Right for the Job?

Electricity has become a necessity in just about every workplace. But with it comes some degree of risk for employees and employers. One of these risks can be high voltage connectors. A wire or connector is said to be high-voltage when it carries voltage that’s much higher than the earth’s.

Types of High-Voltage Connectors And Their Ideal Jobs

Connectors exist solely to address safety issues in the plugging and power flow technicalities in and various electrical wiring systems. A fact to note is that each of the different connectors is specially designed for a specific job, although some can be used in variety of appliances. Here are the different types of connectors as well as their applications in various wiring systems:

• Single-phase (a ground, and two energized pins): This is ideal for use in mostly clothes dryers and ovens. It has three connection pins.
• Single-phase (no ground, energized and neutral pins): Used in appliances that are double insulated and in lamps. It has two pins for connection.
• Single-phase (with ground, energized and neutral pins): This three-pinned connector is ideal for business and larger household equipment.
• Three-phase (3 phase pins, a neutral and ground): Ideal for any three-phase machine that has an unbalanced load. This connector has five pins.
• Three-phase (3 phase pins and a ground): Any business machine with fitted with a three-phase inlet would work with this. It’s four-pinned.

Potential Dangers Posed By High-Voltage Connectors Within The Workplace

Working in an environment filled with electrical equipment and live wires isn’t a walk in a park. It can be risky. Your question could be: What exactly are the potential dangers faced by the people working with connectors and other electrical equipment?

Here are some of those:

• Electrocution is extremely dangerous. If a worker happens to touch a exposed live wire, they could get an electric shock. This shock has been known to render people unconscious, and even stop their hearts, with fatal effects.
• A high temperature arc in contact with unprotected skin can cause second-degree and third-degree burns. Known as an Arc Flash.
• If there occurs an accident or a malfunction that results in a blast, the pressure emitted can severely harm a person’s ear canal, chest cavity, and even the face.

How Does Training In Electrical Safety Help In Averting The Dangers?

As a leader, you would want your employees working with electrical equipment and connectors to stay safe at all times. To realize that satisfactorily, you need to have your workers trained on electrical safety work practices. Here are the effects of a good electrical safety program:

• It saves lives and prevents serious injuries that could otherwise result from accidents in mishandling of equipment at the workplace.
• The training introduces the workers to the right high voltage connectors needed for each job. That way, incidents of malfunctioning and blasts are kept to a minimum, and that means better safety for everyone.
• When your employees are well trained in best electrical working practices, you have less incidents of damage to property and equipment. That also ends up saving you some money that would otherwise be spent on replacements.
• Since the training also encompasses the observance of safe workplace practices, your workers learn how to use protective gear such as:  shock protection, arc flash clothing, hearing protection, and safety glasses. This has the overall effect of reducing danger and injury when working on electrical equipment.

It’s a fact that working in a safe and well-organized environment leads to more work completed and better employee relationships, and that’s one reason why you would want your workers to undergo NFPA 70E: Arc Flash Electrical Safety & Utilization of High Voltage training. If you want that, just know that NTT Training is an accredited entity and ready help. For more information, contact us today.

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