There is no code / standard / regulation compliant way for any electrical contractor employee (not working for an electrical utility) to cut free or tie in a service drop regardless of the utilities traditions or expectations.
It is live work that is prohibited.
If you are a business owner and allow, or even expect your employees to do this you are in violation, are subject to large fines and if the employee gets injured or killed you will be in an indefensible position.
Really? I admit I dont know OSHA regulations at all but I have a hard time believing that it is universally prohibited from working on things hot.
Have you been living under a rock?
Kidding.
Where is the line drawn? Does any panel I work in have to be de-energized
To add a breaker to a panel? Yes.
To repair a panel? Yes.
To troubleshoot no, but you have to wear PPE.
(assuming I am an employee which I am not. I am an officer of a corporation so I dont have to adhere to OSHA..)?
I know that OSHA does not apply to a company owner, I am not sure were an officer of the company would fall. I suspect OSHA would apply.
Does amployee have to pull the meter to work in a service panel or is the wording specific that you can work near live parts but not with live parts?
'Live parts to which an employee may be exposed shall be deenergized before the employee works on or near them.'
Here is the relevant OSHA section.
1910.333(a)(1)
"Deenergized parts." Live parts to which an employee may be exposed shall be deenergized before the employee works on or near them, unless the employer can demonstrate that deenergizing introduces additional or increased hazards or is infeasible due to equipment design or operational limitations. Live parts that operate at less than 50 volts to ground need not be deenergized if there will be no increased exposure to electrical burns or to explosion due to electric arcs.
Note 1: Examples of increased or additional hazards include interruption of life support equipment, deactivation of emergency alarm systems, shutdown of hazardous location ventilation equipment, or removal of illumination for an area.
Note 2: Examples of work that may be performed on or near energized circuit parts because of infeasibility due to equipment design or operational limitations include testing of electric circuits that can only be performed with the circuit energized and work on circuits that form an integral part of a continuous industrial process in a chemical plant that would otherwise need to be completely shut down in order to permit work on one circuit or piece of equipment.
Note 3: Work on or near deenergized parts is covered by paragraph (b) of this section.
Now, if you are like most you will latch onto
'removal of illumination for an area' as justification for live work. But please consider the following.
You have an employee do some live work using 'illumination' as the reason. Now the employee is hurt, or even worse killed, imagine defending that decision in court.
You would be asked,
'Could you have provided alternate means of illumination?' and of course the answer to that is yes.
Furthermore there is talk of having
'removal of illumination for an area' removed altogether from the OSHA standards.
Now lets say live work is actually allowed, you still must wear full PPE for the hazards involved.
In a residential service panel this many only amount to gloves, face shield and a cotton long sleeve shirt. Or if the available fault current is high you might have to wear a full on moon suit.
OSHA is not concerned one bit about what this costs, how difficult it may be or that we have always worked live.
