Injuries due to incidents involving multimeters, specifically those with unfused leads, are a growing concern in the electricity industry. According to the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) there have been numerous multimeter incidents in the past 8 years. Some of these have resulted in serious or critical injuries.

Today, the majority of multimeters use unfused leads. This means that, under a fault condition, the energy available at the terminals can enter the multimeter—often with dire (explosive) consequences. Even meters with internal fuses usually do not protect the user from faults while using the meter on the most used ‘Volt – Ohm” settings. 

The adoption of fused multimeter leads in the industry is seen by the ESA as one method to take action on this important safety issue—the thinking being that the fuses in the leads would act first, consequently limiting potentially life-threatening energy from entering the meter and harming the meter operator.

In order to establish supporting data, the ESA recently contracted Kinectrics to perform a series of rigorous objective tests on both fused and unfused leads. The project, carried out in Kinectrics’ High Current Lab, produced and documented test data that underlined the need for the use of fused leads on multimeters.

To further this cause, the Electrical Safety Authority has initiated a campaign, supported by Kinectrics’ test findings, to mandate fused leads as the official ESA Ontario industry wide standard. Secondly, to encourage technicians and other multi-meter users towards safer testing practices, the ESA is currently driving an industry-wide program to “swap-out” or replace, all un-fused multimeter leads with CSA approved fused leads.

In working successfully with the ESA on this and similar projects, Kinectrics is helping to move Ontario to the forefront as a proactive leader in industry safety. The current ESA campaign to improve standards is also expected to have significant national and global impact.

As part of its own commitment to safe work practices, Kinectrics’ internal Safety Committee is currently planning an in-house program for the replacement of unfused leads for both in-house and field-testing multimeter equipment.

 For more information, contact Bob Beresh, 416.207.6000 x6505, bob.beresh@kinectrics.com