Overhead Cable Awareness
How to plan and work safely near or under overhead power lines, set up exclusion zones and goalposts, and what to do if plant makes contact.
Every year people at work are killed or seriously injured when they come into contact with, or get too close to, live overhead power lines. It happens with cranes, lorry loaders, excavators and tipping trailers, with scaffold tubes and ladders, and during loading, lifting and stacking.
Electricity can jump from a line to nearby plant, and contact causes burns and internal injuries as well as electric shock. This course gives your teams the precautions and actions to take when working close to or below overhead electrical hazards, in line with HSE GS6 and the ENA guide “Look Out Look Up!”.
Who should attend
Plant operators, lorry and tipper drivers, crane and lorry-loader operators, vehicle marshals, scaffolders, groundworkers and supervisors working on sites with overhead lines.
What you will learn
- Spot overhead lines early and treat every line as live until the owner confirms otherwise.
- Plan work near overhead lines and know when the 10m rule applies.
- Set up barriers, goalposts, passageways and “dead ground” correctly.
- Know the exclusion zones for different voltages and keep plant out of them.
- Take the right actions if a machine touches a line or a cable comes down.
- Report every contact or damage, however minor it seems.
Course content
What we cover
- The risks. How incidents happen, arcing, electric shock, burns and why you must think and look in three dimensions.
- Planning the work. Site checks, asking the line owner, high and low voltage lines, insulated and bare wires, and power versus telecoms.
- Separation and barriers. Barriers at least 6m from the nearest wire, dead ground, low and high-level bunting, and lighting and signs.
- Passing under lines. Passageways, insulated goalposts, tensioned ropes 12m out, warning signs and keeping the route level.
- Working under lines. ENA exclusion zones from 1m to 7m, safe stand-off distances, plant restraints, carrying long items and spotters.
- Actions on contact. Staying in the cab, jumping clear and bunny hopping 15m away, clearing the area to 50m and calling the line owner.
Assessment & certificate
Delegates who complete the course receive an OccuSafe certificate, valid for 3 years.
Why it matters
Contact with an overhead line can kill in a fraction of a second. Trained teams look up, keep plant out of the danger zone and know exactly what to do if something goes wrong.
Book this course for your team.
Send the number of operatives and your site location. We’ll come back with dates and a price.