What should be done to prevent employees from being exposed to hazardous differences in electrical potential?

Placing temporary protective grounds is an essential method to prevent employees from being exposed to hazardous differences in electrical potential. This practice helps establish a safe pathway for electrical current, directing it away from individuals in the event of a fault or failure in the electrical system. Grounding provides a reference point for electrical systems and significantly reduces the risk of electric shock by ensuring that any fault current has a low-resistance path to the ground, minimizing the potential difference that a person might encounter.

When temporary protective grounds are installed, they effectively isolate workers from the electrical circuits, creating a barrier that protects them from accidental contact with high-voltage scenarios. This is especially critical during maintenance or repair work on energized equipment, where the risk of unexpected electrical potential differences can be high. Using protective gloves, limiting access, or wearing proper footwear can enhance safety but do not directly address the hazardous electrical potential as effectively as the implementation of grounding does.