Safety

Safety

Electricity can be dangerous. In this course, you will not be using a dangerous level of electricity. While this does significantly reduce the risk of hurting yourself, this course is designed to get you thinking like an electrician. Therefore, treat the circuits in this course as if they were at full power. Below are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Shut off the “mains”
   a. The mains connect the power lines to your house. Before you work on any electrical project, it is always a good idea to turn off the power. Similarly, on the Load Center located on your WorkBench, there is a rocker switch. You should shut the power off to your circuits while working on them. Only turn on the switch when ready to test your circuit.
   b. There is a light on the rocker switch. If it is illuminated, that means there is power to the Load Center. Press the raised side of the rocker switch to turn off the power.
2. Wear PPE
   PPE stands for Personal Protective Equipment. While this course does not require any PPE due to the high degree of safety that went into designing the kit, wearing protective equipment, like safety glasses, is recommended to get you more in the electrician mindset.
3. Test before you touch
   If you’re unsure if a wire is ‘live’/electrified, use your test equipment to check for current first. We’ll cover this test equipment in later lessons.