JINJA VOCATIONAL TRAINING INSTITUTE

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL
DIPLOMA IN INSTRUCTOR AND TECHNICAL TEACHER EDUCATION IN ELECTRICAL
ENGINEERING
Year two Semester two (Diploma entrants)
Workshop practice and field practice

ELECTRICAL SAFETY SYSTEMS

The provision of protective devices in an electrical installation is fundamental to the whole
concept of the safe use of electricity in buildings. The electrical installation as a whole must be
protected against overload or short circuit and the people using the building must be protected
against the risk of shock, fire or other risks arising from their own misuse of the installation or
from a fault. The installation and maintenance of adequate and appropriate protective measures is
a vital part of the safe use of electrical energy, let us first define some of the words we will be
using in the protection of electrical installations
Earth – the conductive mass of the earth.
Bonding Conductor – a protective conductor providing equipotential bonding.
Circuit Protective Conductor (CPC) – a protective conductor connecting exposed conductive
parts of equipment to the main earthing terminal. This is the green and yellow insulated
conductor in twin and earth cable.
Exposed Conductive Parts – this is the metalwork of an electrical appliance or the trunking and
conduit of an electrical system which can be touched because they are not normally live, but
which may become live under fault conditions.
Extraneous Conductive Parts – this is the structural steelwork of a building and other service
pipes such as gas, water, radiators and sinks. They do not form a part of the electrical installation
but may introduce a potential, generally earth potential, to the electrical installation.

Direct contact protection

The human body’s movements are controlled by the nervous system. Very tiny electrical signals
travel between the central nervous system and the muscles, stimulating operation of the muscles,
which enable us to walk, talk and run and remember that the heart is also a muscle.
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If the body becomes part of a more powerful external circuit, such as the electrical mains, and
current flows through it, the body’s normal electrical operations are disrupted.
The shock current cause’s unnatural operation of the muscles and the result may be that the
person is unable to release the live conductor causing the shock, or the person may be thrown
across the room. The current which flows through the body is determined by the resistance of the
human body and the surface resistance of the skin on the hands and feet.
This leads to the consideration of exceptional precautions where people with wet skin or wet
surfaces are involved, and the need for special consideration in bathroom installations.
Two types of contact will result in a person receiving an electric shock.
Direct contact with live parts which involves touching a terminal or phase conductor that is
actually live.
Indirect contact results from contact with an exposed conductive part such as the metal structure
of a piece of equipment that has become live as a result of a fault.

In installations operating at normal mains voltage, the primary method of protections against
direct contact is by insulation. All live parts are enclosed in insulating material such as rubber or
plastic, which prevents contact with those parts. The insulating material must, of course, be
suitable for the circumstances in which they will be used and the stresses to which they will be
subjected.

Other methods of direct contact protection include the provision of barriers or enclosures which
can only be opened by the use of a tool, or when the supply is first disconnected.

Protection can also be provided by fixed obstacles such as a guard rail around an open
switchboard or by placing live parts out of reach as with overhead lines.

Earth fault protection

The IEE Regulations tells us that where the metalwork of electrical equipment may become
charged with electricity in such a manner as to cause danger, that metalwork will be connected
with earth so as to discharge the electrical energy without danger.

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There are five methods of protection against contact with metalwork which has become
unintentionally live, that is, indirect contact with exposed conductive parts recognized by the IEE
Regulations. These are:
1 Earthed equipotential bonding coupled with automatic disconnection of the supply.
2 The use of Class II (double insulated) equipment.
3 The provision of a non-conducting location.
4 The use of earth free equipotential bonding.
5 Electrical separation.

Methods 3 and 4 are limited to special situations under the effective supervision of trained
personnel.
Method 5, electrical separation, is little used but does find an application in the domestic electric
shaver supply unit which incorporates an isolating transformer.
Method 2, the use of Class II insulated equipment is limited to single pieces of equipment such
as tools used on construction sites, because it relies upon effective supervision to ensure that no
metallic equipment or extraneous earthed metalwork enters the area of the installation.
The method which is most universally used is Method 1 – earthed equipotential bonding coupled
with automatic disconnection of the supply.
This method relies upon all exposed metalwork being electrically connected together to an
effective earth connection. Not only must all the metalwork associated with the electrical
installation be so connected, that is conduits, trunking, metal switches and the metalwork of
electrical appliances, but Regulation tells us to connect the extraneous metalwork of water
service pipes, gas and other service pipes and ducting, central heating and air conditioning
systems, exposed metallic structural parts of the building and lightning protective systems to the
main earthing terminal. In this way the possibility of a voltage appearing between two exposed
metal parts is removed.
The second element of this protection method is the provision of a means of automatic
disconnection of the supply in the event of a fault occurring that causes the exposed metalwork
to become live.
The IEE Regulations recognize that the risk of an injurious shock is greater when the equipment
concerned is portable and likely to be hand held, such as an electric drill, than when the

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equipment is fixed. The Regulations, therefore, specify that the disconnection must be effected
within 0.4 seconds for circuits, which include socket outlets, but within 5.0 seconds for circuits
connected to fixed equipment

Residual current protection

The IEE Regulations recognize the particular problems created when electrical equipment such
as lawnmowers, hedge-trimmers, drills and lights are used outside buildings. In these
circumstances the availability of an adequate earth return path is a matter of chance. The
Regulations, therefore, require that any socket intended to be used to supply equipment outside a
building shall have the additional protection of a residual current device (RCD), which has a
rated operating current of not more than 30 milliamperes (mA).
An RCD is a type of circuit breaker that continuously compares the current in the phase and
neutral conductors of the circuit. The currents in a healthy circuit will be equal, but in a circuit
that develops a fault, some current will flow to earth and the phase and neutral currents will no
longer balance. The RCD detects the imbalance and disconnects the circuit.
Figure 2.18 shows an RCD.

Isolation and switching

Isolation is defined as cutting off the electrical supply to a circuit or item of equipment in order
to ensure the safety of those working on the equipment by making dead those parts which are
live in normal service.

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An isolator is a mechanical device which is operated manually and used to open or close a circuit
off load. An isolator switch must be provided close to the supply point so that all equipment can
be made safe for maintenance. Isolators for motor circuits must isolate the motor and the control
equipment, and isolators for high-voltage discharge lighting luminaires must be an integral part
of the luminaire so that it is isolated when the cover is removed. Devices which are suitable for
isolation are isolation switches, fuse links, circuit breakers, plugs and socket outlets.

With the regulations for switching devices or switchgear required for protection, isolation and
switching of a consumer’s installation. The consumer’s main switchgear must be readily
accessible to the consumer and be able to:
■ isolate the complete installation from the supply,
■ protect against overcurrent,
■ cut off the current in the event of a serious fault occurring.
The Regulations identify four separate types of switching: switching for isolation; switching for
mechanical maintenance; emergency switching; and functional switching.

Isolation at the consumer’s service position can be achieved by a double pole switch which
opens or closes all conductors simultaneously. On three-phase supplies the switch need only
break the live conductors with a solid link in the neutral, provided that the neutral link cannot be
removed before opening the switch.

The switching for mechanical maintenance requirements is similar to those for isolation except
that the control switch must be capable of switching the full load current of the circuit or piece of
equipment. Switches for mechanical maintenance must not have exposed live parts when the
appliance is opened, must be connected in the main electrical circuit and have a reliable on/off
indication or visible contact gap (Regulations 462 and 537–03). Devices which are suitable for
switching off for mechanical maintenance are switches, circuit breakers, plug and socket outlets.

Emergency switching involves the rapid disconnection of the electrical supply by a single action
to remove or prevent danger. The device used for emergency switching must be immediately
accessible and identifiable, and be capable of cutting off the full load current.

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Electrical machines must be provided with a means of emergency switching, and a person
operating an electrically driven machine must have access to an emergency switch so that the
machine can be stopped in an emergency. Devices which are suitable for emergency switching
are switches, circuit breakers and contactors. Where contactors are operated by remote control
they should open when the coil is de-energized, that is, fail safe. Push-buttons used for
emergency switching must be coloured red and latch in the stop or off position. They should be
installed where danger may arise and be clearly identified as emergency switches. Plugs and
socket outlets cannot be considered appropriate for emergency disconnection of supplies.

Functional switching involves the switching on or off or varying the supply of electrically
operated equipment in normal service. The device must be capable of interrupting the total
steady current of the circuit or appliance. When the device controls a discharge lighting circuit it
must have a current rating capable of switching an inductive load. Plug and socket outlets may
be used as switching devices and recent years have seen an increase in the number of electronic

Over current protection

The consumer’s mains equipment must provide protection against over current; that is, a current
exceeding the rated value. Fuses provide over current protection when situated in the live
conductors; they must not be connected in the neutral conductor. Circuit breakers may be used in
place of fuses, in which case the circuit breaker may also provide the means of isolation,
although a further means of isolation is usually provided so that maintenance can be carried out
on the circuit breakers themselves.

Overcurrent can be subdivided into overload current, and short-circuit current. An overload
current can be defined as a current which exceeds the rated value in an otherwise healthy circuit.
Overload currents usually occur because the circuit is abused or because it has been badly
designed or modified.
A short circuit is an overcurrent resulting from a fault of negligible impedance connected
between conductors. Short circuits usually occur as a result of an accident which could not have
been predicted before the event.

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An overload may result in currents of two or three times the rated current flowing in the circuit.
Shortcircuit currents may be hundreds of times greater than the rated current. In both cases the
basic requirements for protection are that the fault currents should be interrupted quickly and the
circuit isolated safely before the fault current causes a temperature rise which might damage the
insulation and terminations of the circuit conductors.

The selected protective device should have a current rating which is not less than the full load
current of the circuit but which does not exceed the cable current rating. The cables is then fully
protected against both overload and short-circuit faults

Below are the devices which provide overcurrent protection

■ HBC fuses to BS 88. These are for industrial applications having a maximum fault capacity of
80 kA.
■ Cartridge fuses to BS 1361. These are used for a.c. circuits on industrial and domestic
installations having a fault capacity of about 30 kA.
■ Cartridge fuses to BS 1362. These are used in 13A plug tops and have a maximum fault
capacity of about 6 kA.
■ Semi-enclosed fuses to BS 3036. These were previously called rewirable fuses and are used
mainly on domestic installations having a maximum fault capacity of about 4 kA.
■ MCBs to BS 3871. These are miniature circuit breakers which may be used as an alternative to
fuses for some installations. The British Standard includes ratings up to 100 A and maximum
fault capacities of 9 kA. They are graded according to their instantaneous tripping currents – that
is, the current at which they will trip within 100 ms. this is less than the time taken to blink an
eye.

Semi-enclosed fuses (BS 3036)

The semi-enclosed fuse consists of a fuse wire, called the fuse element, secured between two
screw terminals in a fuse carrier. The fuse element is connected in series with the load and the
thickness of the element is sufficient to carry the normal rated circuit current. When a fault
occurs an overcurrent flows and the fuse element becomes hot and melts or ‘blows’.

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The designs of the fuse carrier and base are also important. They must not allow the heat
generated from an overcurrent to dissipate too quickly from the element, otherwise a larger
current would be required to ‘blow’ the fuse. Also if over-enclosed, heat will not escape and the
fuse will ‘blow’ at a lower current. This type of fuse is illustrated in Fig. 2.19. The fuse element
should consist of a single strand of plain or tinned copper wire having a diameter appropriate to
the current rating as given in Table 2.1.

ADVANTAGES OF SEMI-ENCLOSED FUSES

■ They are very cheap compared with other protective devices both to install and to replace.
■ There are no mechanical moving parts.
■ It is easy to identify a ‘blown fuse’.

DISADVANTAGES OF SEMI-ENCLOSED FUSES

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■ The fuse element may be replaced with wire of the wrong size either deliberately or by
accident.
■ The fuse element weakens with age due to oxidization, which may result in a failure under
normal operating conditions.
■ The circuit cannot be restored quickly since the fuse element requires screw fixing.
■ They have low breaking capacity since, in the event of a severe fault, the fault current may
vaporize the fuse element and continue to flow in the form of an arc across the fuse terminals.
■ There is a danger from scattering hot metal if the fuse carrier is inserted into the base when the
circuit is faulty.

Cartridge fuses (BS 1361)

The cartridge fuse breaks a faulty circuit in the same way as a semi-enclosed fuse, but its
construction eliminates some of the disadvantages experienced with an open-fuse element.
The fuse element is encased in a glass or ceramic tube and secured to end-caps which are firmly
attached to the body of the fuse so that they do not blow off when the fuse operates. Cartridge
fuse construction is illustrated in Fig. 2.20. With larger-size cartridge fuses, lugs or tags are
sometimes brazed on to the end-caps to fix the fuse cartridge mechanically to the carrier. They
may also be filled with quartz sand to absorb and extinguish the energy of the arc when the
cartridge is brought into operation.

ADVANTAGES OF CARTRIDGE FUSES

■ They have no mechanical moving parts.

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■ The declared rating is accurate.
■ The element does not weaken with age.
■ They have small physical size and no external arcing which permits their use in plug tops and
small fuse carriers
■ Their operation is more rapid than semi-enclosed fuses. Operating time is inversely
proportional to the fault current.

DISADVANTAGES OF CARTRIDGE FUSES

■ They are more expensive to replace than rewirable fuse elements.
■ They can be replaced with an incorrect cartridge.
■ The cartridge may be shorted out by wire or silver foil in extreme cases of bad practice.
■ They are not suitable where extremely high fault currents may develop.

HIGH BREAKING CAPACITY FUSES (BS 88)

As the name might imply, these cartridge fuses are for protecting circuits where extremely high
fault currents may develop such as on industrial installations or distribution systems.
The fuse element consists of several parallel strips of pure silver encased in a substantial ceramic
cylinder, the ends of which are sealed with tinned brass end-caps incorporating fixing lugs. The
cartridge is filled with silica sand to ensure quick arc extraction. Incorporated on the body is an
indicating device to show when the fuse has blown. HBC fuse construction is shown in Fig. 2.21.

Fig 2.21

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ADVANTAGES OF HBC FUSES
■ They have no mechanical moving parts.
■ The declared rating is accurate.
■ The element does not weaken with age.
■ Their operation is very rapid under fault conditions.
■ They are capable of breaking very heavy fault currents safely.
■ They are capable of discriminating between a persistent fault and a transient fault such as the
large starting current taken by motors.
■ It is difficult to confuse cartridges since different ratings are made to different physical sizes.

DISADVANTAGES OF HBC FUSES

■ They are very expensive compared to semi-enclosed fuses.

Miniature circuit breakers (BS 3871)

The disadvantage of all fuses is that when they have operated they must be replaced. An MCB
overcomes this problem since it is an automatic switch which opens in the event of an excessive
current flowing in the circuit and can be closed when the circuit returns to normal.

Fig. 2.22 (a) Interior view of Wylex ‘plug-in’ MCB;(b) ‘plug-in’ MCB fits any standard Wylex
consumer’s unit.

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An MCB of the type shown in Fig. 2.22 incorporates a thermal and magnetic tripping device.
The load current flows through the thermal and the electromagnetic mechanisms. In normal
operation the current is insufficient to operate device, but when an overload occurs, the bimetal
strip heats up, bends and trips the mechanism. The time taken for this action to occur provides an
MCB with the ability to discriminate between an overload which persists for a very short time,
for example the starting current of a motor, and an overload due to a fault. The device only trips
when a fault current occurs. This slow operating time is ideal for overloads but when a short
circuit occurs it is important to break the faulty circuit very quickly. This is achieved by the coil
electromagnetic device.

When a large fault current (above about eight times the rated current) flows through the coil a
strong magnetic flux is set up which trips the mechanisms almost instantly. The circuit can be
restored when the fault is removed by pressing the ON toggle. This latches the various
mechanisms within the MCB and ‘makes’ the switch contact. The toggle switch can also be used
to disconnect the circuit for maintenance or isolation or to test the MCB for satisfactory
operation. The simplified diagram in Fig. 2.23 shows the various parts within an MCB.

DISADVANTAGES OF MCBS

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■ They are very expensive compared to rewirable fuses.
■ They contain mechanical moving parts and therefore require regular testing to ensure
satisfactory operation under fault conditions.

Fusing factor
The speed with which a protective device will operate under fault conditions gives an indication
of the level of protection being offered by that device. This level of protection or fusing
performance is given by the fusing factor of the device:

Fusing factor= Minimum fusing current / Current rating

The minimum fusing current of a device is the current which will cause the fuse or MCB to blow
or trip in a given time. The current rating of a device is the current which it will carry
continuously without deteriorating.
Thus, a 10 A fuse which operates when 15 A flows will have a fusing factor of 15 ÷ 10 =1.5.
Since the protective device must carry the rated current it follows that the fusing factor must
always be greater than one. The closer the fusing factor is to one, the better is the protection
offered by that device. The fusing factors of the protective devices previously considered are:
■ semi-enclosed fuses: between 1.5 and 2
■ cartridge fuses: between 1.25 and 1.75
■ HBC fuses: less than 1.25
■ MCBs: less than 1.5.

In order to give protection to the conductors of an installation:

■ the current rating of the protective device must be equal to or less than the current carrying
capacity of the conductor;
■ the current causing the protective device to operate must not be greater than 1.45 times the
current carrying capacity of the conductor to be protected.

Discrimination

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In the event of a fault occurring on an electrical installation only the protective device nearest to
the fault should operate, leaving other healthy circuits unaffected. A circuit designed in this way
would be considered to have effective discrimination. Effective discrimination can be achieved
by graded protection since the speed of operation of the protective device increases as the rating
decreases. For example a fault current of 200 A will cause a 15A semi-enclosed fuse to operate
in about 0.1 seconds, a 30 A semi-enclosed fuse in about 0.45 seconds and a 60 A semi-enclosed
fuse in about 5.4 seconds. If a circuit is arranged as shown in Fig. 2.26 and a fault occurs on the
appliance, effective discrimination will be achieved because the 15 A fuse will operate more
quickly than the other protective devices if they were all semi-enclosed types fuses.

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