Safe Installation of IT Equipment

Information technology (IT) rooms pose special hazards for a few reasons, such as these:

1. They normally have self-locking doors. This can make emergency egress difficult and can impede the entrance of first responders.
2. The equipment is typically on battery backup, which means shutting off power to the main panel of the room will still leave equipment energized.
3. Equipment density tends to be high and increases over time.
4. Grounding and bonding errors are notorious in these rooms due to misguided efforts to reduce electrical noise. One symptom is people get shocked when touching a cabling shield because it’s at a different potential from a metallic object such as the server rack they are leaning against.
5. Transformers (and other electrical infrastructure) are often hidden away above the ceiling. While they are typically installed using channel strut and therefore don’t pose a crush risk, they are still hard to work around in that small and elevated space — and replacing them is correspondingly more difficult and dangerous.
6. These rooms often have their own fire suppression systems. Gas or chemical systems may asphyxiate you before you can get out.

Follow these practices just to be in the room:

1. Verify that you can exit the room in an emergency. Note the location of emergency exits and emergency communications equipment.
2. Verify that there’s a lighted exit path out of the IT room from the exact spot in which you will be working. These rooms are typically crowded with equipment that makes a dark exit dangerous at best. If there is no lighted exit path, you’ll need to create one (portable lights will serve the purpose).
3. Know the exit path from the IT room door to the outside of the building.

In the event of a fire or other event that triggers the evacuation alarm:

1. Don’t wait to see if the alarm is legit. Assume it is, and get out of there before the suppression agent is released.
2. Don’t grab an extinguisher to fight the flames. Even if the room is not fire suppression protected, it probably lacks the ventilation for you to stay in there during a fire. The chemicals released during such a burn will destroy your health even if the smoke doesn’t kill you first.
3. Look though the glass to confirm that others have made it safely outside. If someone is in the room and the fire suppression has activated, don’t try to rescue them without the appropriate breathing PPE (it will have an air tank), or the rescuers will be taking two dead people out instead of only one.
4. Open the disconnect (on the wall outside the room by the door) after everyone is out of the IT room.
5. Go to the assembly area and report to the person who is in charge of that assembly area. If you are that person, take roll call, and instruct people to stay there if that location is safe.

Tips for working safely in IT rooms:

1. Keep tools and equipment out of the egress path to the extent that it is practical.
2. Know the locations of all disconnects from the UPS to UPS-supplied equipment.
3. Use your DMM to check for potential between different systems (e.g., communications systems and power systems) and between metallic objects. You can connect temporary jumpers to act as bonding jumpers to ensure your own safety, but if you do that, then document the deficiencies, and speak with your supervisor about filing the proper paperwork that will lead to making these jumpers permanent once the existing project is completed.
4. Always do a tool count before and after the work.