Where/How to start?

[Strahan]

Our plant is in the process of forming an "Electrical Safety Committee". This is in part due to NFPA 70E requirements. I have been asked to be a part of this committee. My initial thoughts and concerns are that because this is such a broad topic that it will be easy to become overwhelmed and not really accomplish what we are capable of. I feel we should break things down into sections of concern and approach from there and not move on until we are satisfied with the outcome.
Some different areas or sections to address that I have written down are:
-Working spaces (new and existing)
-Safe work procedures
-Required PPE
-Disconnects (where required, lockable new and existing installations)
-Cords (we have a problem with extension cords. Work on removing these)
I will suggest that we split the committee into groups and each group would be assigned one of these categories to address.
What are some of your thoughts ideas of different categories that should be addressed and made compliant? We have already done arc flash analysis and panels are labeled.

 

[zog]

The entire commitee should attend some quality 70E compliance training. Not some crappy free seminar designed to sell PPE or fuses. Brainfiller and Ehazzard are 2 of the best (Now that I retired from it ) and have classes designed just for this type of thing.

I can help you out here, please read the FAQ's first in this section. Some information about your facility will really help. What type of facility, voltages, equipment, trades, etc....

 

[Strahan]

The entire commitee should attend some quality 70E compliance training. Not some crappy free seminar designed to sell PPE or fuses. Brainfiller and Ehazzard are 2 of the best (Now that I retired from it ) and have classes designed just for this type of thing.

I can help you out here, please read the FAQ's first in this section. Some information about your facility will really help. What type of facility, voltages, equipment, trades, etc....

Thanks that would be great! Facility: Industrial food manufacturing. Voltages range from 480V/277V to 240V/120V and we also have a 240V ungrounded system. Equipment consists of continuous production lines, cookers, to labeling and case. Of course production starts with our cooke kettles 500gal to 1500gal pots. Trades within maintenance range from mechanics to electricians. We also have an engineering department that has other trades such as machinists welders mechanic (fabricators) control techs. The term engineering department is used loosely. Our company has paid for an outside firm to come in and give us training on 70E. That has been two years ago and from what I remember it was good.
This is something that I'm personally really interested in doing and want it to turn out good. I'm afraid that because there is so much involved that nothing useful will get done. I'm pretty safe saying that I will be the only one on the committee that knows anything about the NEC; so that should give you an idea of what I'm up against. Thanks for any help!

 

[cornbread]

Good luck with your safety committee. We started our safety committee about a year ago and had great start, but lately we seem to be getting bogged down in the meetng with details. My advice is to make sure who ever leads the meetings does not loose control. Deligate responsibilities for hashing out the details in a seperate meeting and I think you will see the effort pay off.

Our first order of business was to get a profeassional arc flash study done.
The 2nd thing we worked on were policies for working on or near live exposed parts. We are currlety working on ESMP's (Electrcial safety maint proecdures). Our goal is to have a ESMP for every activity that exposed an electrical worker to a hazard.

 

[pfalcon]

You first need to get copies of all applicable specs. For example:

2.1.4 United States
? OSHA Regulations (Standards - 29 CFR) Part 1910 Subpart S
? OSHA Regulations (Standards -29 CFS) Part 1926 Subpart K
2.1.4.1 Indiana
? NFPA70 y2008 ?National Electrical Code?
o 675 IAC 17-1.8 Adopted by reference with exceptions effective Aug 26, 2009
2.2 Industry Standards
? NFPA70E y2009 ?Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace?
o Adopted by inference of OSH Act of 1970 section 5(a)(1)
? NFPA79 y2007 ?Electrical Standard for Industrial Machinery?
o Adopted by inference of OSH Act of 1970 section 5(a)(1)
? NFPA79 y2007 Annex D Technical Documentation
? NFPA79 y2007 Annex E Device and Component Designations

Once you know what standards you are trying to hold to, then you can study the standards and attend the appropriate classes. Quality classes as Zog says. The leaders of this committee need the training before passing out policies.

Aside from a group of stakeholders in the process, there should also be designated "expert resources" from the group.

1) Electrician - Practical input on electrical practices and basic standards knowledge.
2) Electrical Engineer - Site electrical specification holder and compliance checker.
3) Safety Officer - Site OSHA and safety officer.

All three signatures should be required to implement a policy change.