SPARKYSTUDY NOTES
SPARKY STUDY NOTES sparkystudynotes.co.uk/learn/safe-isolation-step-by-step

Free notes

Safe isolation, step by stepCan you trust the labels on the board?

Free from the notes: Sparky’s video on it, the section word for word as members see it, and a PDF to keep.

From Sparky’s full video lesson. Members get the whole lesson on every notes page.

The notes

Exactly as they are on the site.

Download these notesPDF · free to keep

The procedure is laid out most clearly in Electricians Guide to the Building Regulations · 7.5.

  1. Speak to the client first. What is the problem, which circuit, what is happening. Arrange the visit.
  2. Permission, and paperwork. Risk assessment, method statement, programme of works if you are on a big site.
  3. Go to the board and locate the circuit. Use the stickers — but verify them.
  4. Isolate the circuit.
  5. Lock off, fit a warning label, and keep the key on you.
  6. Prove your AVI works — on a known live supply or a proving unit.
  7. Test. Three tests on single phase, ten on three phase.
  8. Prove the AVI again.
  9. Barriers if you are in a public area — before or after, but they go up.
  10. Only then is it safe to work.
✋Labels lie. A lighting circuit is not always where the label says it is. Read the labels, then prove which breaker it actually is.
Put your name and number on the lock. On a big site somebody may genuinely need to reach the person who fitted it.
✋Isolation is not simply operating a device. It must be locked off, and it must carry warning signs. In a public area — an office that cannot be fully isolated because of computer systems, say — you also need barriers, for your safety and for theirs. That is basic protection for both of you.
1 Speak to the client what is the problem, which circuit 2 Arrange the visit permission, risk assessment, method statement 3 Locate the circuit at the board use the stickers — but verify them 4 Isolate · lock off · warning label — and the key stays on you 5 Prove the indicator → test → prove it again on a proving unit or a known live supply, both times Prove → Test → Prove If the indicator failed during the test you would never know, and dead would look the same.
The lock-off and the label are not paperwork. Somebody else switching that circuit back on while you are working is exactly what they prevent.

Free section from Sparky Study Notes. The full Level 3 notes, 1,463 practice questions and the video lessons: sparkystudynotes.co.uk

Test yourself on it

The tests are in the members’ area. Get one wrong and it shows you why, and where to revise.

Get access

Get new notes and exam tips from Sparky

About one email a fortnight. Unsubscribe any time. Privacy notice

That was one section. There are 583.

Sparky Study Notes is the whole Level 3 syllabus written up like this: the explanation, the worked example, and where it is in your book. With a video lesson for every part and a practice paper for every exam.

  • 583sections of written notes
  • 35video lessons
  • 1,463practice questions
  • 146diagrams, redrawn
  • 18th Edition
  • Building Regs
  • PAT
  • Fundamental Inspection & Testing
  • Initial Verification
  • Periodic Inspection & Testing
Get access — £100 12 months. One payment. See what’s inside