Extension Cords & GFCI
A damaged cord doesn't look like a killer. It looks like every other cord in the gang box — right up until it's wet, someone's holding a grounded pipe, and it isn't.
How to run it
Read it through once, then talk it — don't recite it. Five minutes at the start of the shift, crew standing where the work happens. Under O. Reg. 213/91, s. 14(3)–(4), the talk is held by a supervisor or a competent person the supervisor appoints — and the sign-in sheet is what proves it happened.
Talk through these points
- Inspect cords before use: cuts, crushed spots, exposed conductors, missing ground pins. Taped-over damage is still damage — cut the end off or bin it.
- GFCI protection on construction sites isn't optional politeness — test the GFCI with its button, not with faith.
- Keep connections dry and out of puddles. Elevate them where the ground is wet.
- Cords are temporary power — not a permanent installation run through doorways and pinch points where they get crushed daily.
- Match the cord to the load. An undersized cord running a big compressor cooks itself from the inside.
- Damaged tools count too: cracked casings, sparking, tingling — tag it out and say so.
Ask the crew
- When did anyone last actually push the test button on the GFCI?
- Which cord in our box is the one everybody knows is sketchy?
- Where are cords getting crushed on this job — doorways, traffic?
The answers are the real talk. If a question lands on a live hazard, write it down and assign it a name and a date.
Paper it
A talk without a record didn't happen, as far as anyone who asks is concerned. Print these free:
A new talk every week.
The toolbox talks page rotates a featured topic weekly — bookmark it, or grab the talk by email every Monday.