Toolbox Talk · ~5 minutes

# 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.

[Print the sign-in sheet](https://bluecraneworks.ca/tools?form=toolbox-talk-sign-in#form-library)
[All toolbox talks](https://bluecraneworks.ca/toolbox-talks.html)

## 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:

[Toolbox talk sign-in sheet](https://bluecraneworks.ca/tools?form=toolbox-talk-sign-in#form-library)
[Cord / GFCI inspection](https://bluecraneworks.ca/tools?form=electrical-cord-gfci-inspection#form-library)
[Equipment defect report](https://bluecraneworks.ca/tools?form=vehicle-defect-report#form-library)

## A new talk every week.

The toolbox talks page rotates a featured topic weekly — bookmark it, or grab the talk by email every Monday.

[This week’s talk](https://bluecraneworks.ca/toolbox-talks.html)
[Next: PPE: Fit, Care & the Reasons](https://bluecraneworks.ca/toolbox-talks/ppe-fit-and-care.html)

[Slips, Trips & Housekeeping](https://bluecraneworks.ca/toolbox-talks/slips-trips-housekeeping.html)
[All 126 contractor forms](https://bluecraneworks.ca/tools#form-library)

## Next, from Blue Crane

- [**Field Level Hazard Assessment**The form the crew fills in before the work starts](https://bluecraneworks.ca/field-level-hazard-assessment-flha.html)

- [**Safe Work Procedure template**Write the procedure this talk refers to](https://bluecraneworks.ca/safe-work-procedure-template.html)

- [**Document Control Systems**Sign-offs, certs and safety records, provable in under a minute](https://bluecraneworks.ca/solutions/document-control.html)

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Source: https://bluecraneworks.ca/toolbox-talks/electrical-cords-gfci