1. Always place a piece of tape across a circuit breaker you’ve shut off to work on a piece of equipment to prevent someone else from inadvertently turning it on.
2. Always check the equipment with a voltmeter to ensure that the circuit breaker was turned off correctly and that no other circuit breakers needed to be turned off.
3. Always test the voltmeter in a live outlet that you are certain is functional to ensure that it is in working order.
4. To perform a “jump” test, turn off the electricity, position the jumpers across the switch to be jumped, turn on the electricity again to check the results, turn off the electricity, and then take the jumper out.
5. You should never leave a switch flipped on for time than is necessary to see the test results.
6. Do not work on electrical equipment if the floor is wet.
7. If you leave a piece of malfunctioning equipment, take care to ensure that nobody else will attempt to use it. Place a big sign at the front of it that clearly notes the problem, such as “Out of Order, Will Be Back with Parts in the Afternoon.”
8. When a piece of equipment is “temporarily” fixed, never let anyone use it until you are certain it is safe.
9. Don’t call a job completed until you’ve thoroughly tested it and are 100 percent certain it’s safe and operational.
10. Always know where you can shut off the power in the event of a problem, whether it’s at the plug or circuit breaker.