Desk in Electrical room prohibited?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Analysis HVAC said:
Does the NEC prohibit a manned desk from being in an electrical room? The room in question is 16' x 20' and only has a few panels in it. The desk is more than 3' from any panel. Thanks.
Click to expand...
It is a good idea to put someone in the electrical closet so that in the event a CB trips they can be called upon to reset it without disturbing the electrician who will be on his coffee break at the time. :)
 
jim dungar said:
I know I have seen electrical rooms on building plans. But in real life all I have seen are large storage closets.😀
Click to expand...
I went out on a couple of EMS (energy management system) installations in restaurants a few years ago. The "electrical rooms" were crammed so full of boxes of supplies, spare furniture, mop buckets full of dirty water, etc., that we had to spend an hour or more moving all that crap out of the way in order to get to the MDP. We did our work but afterwards we just left all that stuff out in the parking lot or wherever because moving all of it back in would have been a code violation. Also, we just didn't want to do it.
 
International Fire Code (2012 Edition), 315.3.3 Equipment rooms. Combustible material shall not be stored in boiler rooms, mechanical rooms or electrical equipment rooms.
If it is a metal desk and kept clear of paperwork, I see no problem. Convincing the fire inspector might be a challenge. Does not almost every room contain electrical "equipment" by definition?
 
Analysis HVAC said:
No, as an Operator, unless something fails, my only responsibility is recording readings every hour. However, it is a great place to hide from the occasion visit from my boss' boss.
Click to expand...
I need a job where I can hide most of the day other than recording readings once an hour. :)

I work in a hallway with about a dozen other people.
 
I have built a number of “E-houses” to house electrical gear at rock crushing plants. In many cases the owners would want a desk in the room, because the E-house was always air conditioned and filtered to keep dust down. On one occasion we had an MSHA inspector reject that based on arc flash issues, saying that because the switchgear, MCCs and VFDs were not in arc resistant gear, anyone in the room would need to wear FR (at that time) PPE and the owner didn’t want to have to outfit his gorillas with special clothing. But all we had to do was build a wall inside to separate the areas.

I only bring it up because I have heard this issue raised several times since but applied to there being just ANY kind of electrical equipment in the room. That would be incorrect in 99% of the cases (notwithstanding the flammable materials issue?), but some people don’t handle nuance well.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top