OSHA now includes NFPA 70E

[maintain]

Liked I told one of my former co-workers when He wanted to fix a lug in a meter base that had melted with about one inch of wire on friday before long weekend at 2 hours before end of day.

Did you ever play that light-up board game Operation as a kid? <Yeah, I was good at it.> But did you ever play it without lighting up the Nose at lest once? <Oh.>

 

[goodcode]

It is important to recognize that the revision of subpart S in the 1910 General Industry Standard does not include revisions to work practices. This revision is based upon installation requirements in both 70E and the NEC which are deemed necessary for employee safety. Note that all of these requirements originate in the NEC. In short, subpart S of 1910 has been revised to the 2002 NEC with respect to certain installation requirements.
See section "V. Summary and Explanation of the Final Standard, A. Issues" in the Federal Register.
OSHA will deal with working practices at another time.
This does not mean that one is not required to implement safe work practices. Vertical standards exist in 1926.95, 1926.416 and 1910.333. Thes are not best practices, they are federal law and OSH states must be equally or more stringent.

 

[iwire]

Goodcode, I do not understand what you are pointing out.

Are you saying OSHA did not include 70E on Feb 13th 2007?

 

[goodcode]

OSHA did not incorporate Chapter 1 of NFPA 70E into subpart S of the 1910 standard.
The only revisions to subpart S of the 1910 standard deal with installation requirements based on the 2002 NEC.

 

[memyselfandI]

So what you are saying that someone has to get injured before OSHA implements Chapter 1 of NFPA 70E. I think that I am going to go with my instincts and use the 2004 NFPA 70E because of the stricter regulations that it has. The last thing that I am going to do is wait for the federal government to get off their backsides and decide to make my workplace safer. I have the 2004 and I have been pushing hard to implement it in our workplace, and because of that our accidents have become non existant. A couple years ago we had an apprentice who was trying to show that he was capable of doing his job, shoved a steel fish tape in an existing conduit that originated in a 480 volt panel. Before we could get to him the tape came down across all three phases. Proper training and hazard evaluation would have prevented this and you can now find those requirements in 70E. People like to play the word game in how OSHA did not incorporate Chapter 1 well let me tell you, when your contact lenses have melted to your eyeballs, and the skin is burnt to a crisp, and you spend time in the burn unit having them scrape the decaying burnt flesh from your body, as you scream to a point of passing out because the pain is so intense, then maybe at that point in time you will understand that a few moments of being uncomfortable in your PPE would have been worth it.

 

[goodcode]

Safety

Safety

Hello memyselfandI,
I think you need to read my post again. I simply pointed out that OSHA did not, in any way, revise the electrical work practices in 1910.333. The original post stated that 70E was adopted entirely by OSHA in the general industry standard.



I simply pointed out to the members of this site that the only revisions in Subpart S,deal with installation requirements. I did not applaud OSHA for not revising work practices.
In constuction, 1926.95 and 1926.416 require the employee be protected but the requirements are performanced based. No prescriptive requirements are provided.
In general industry the provisions of 1910.333 do provide the justification thresholds and generic PPE requirements but again, no guidance for implementing a safe workplace.
I commend your proactive stance towards electrical safe work practices. Many contractors and electricians resist safe work practices even though federal law requires them. However you choose to work safe, I wish everyone had that attitude.
I work every day in codes, standards and safety. It is a challenge to implement the change that NFPA 70E requires of electrical workers. I have seen first hand the devastation of arc flash injuries which have been survived and those that have resulted in death.
Electrical workers grow comfortable with the dangers of shock, arc flash and arc blast. Working energized is in reality a game of russian roulette. Instead of a single player, one live round and five empty chambers, there are thousands of empty chambers, thousands of players and one live round. Eventually the live round is chambered and someone steps up to the plate. They can be visited in burn centers and grave yards all across the country. Thanks for working safe memyselfandI, bring a friend.