General safety as per Chapter 1

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WattsGood

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Location
NJ
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Maintenance Electrician
I have a very stubborn coworker, he is the “motorpool coordinator” at the property where I work, and insists that the panelboards and equipment (needed to run his shop and that are in his office area) are an eyesore and is asking the carpenters to hang a curtain in front it all. More than likely he is just being a pain in the you know what…

§110.26 makes me think it’s okay to have that coverage, but it would need to be 3ft away per code. What is acceptable usage of curtains for coverage? Can I allow him to have the curtains right on top of they are non-flammable? Does 110.26 need to be followed to the 3ft regardless of the non-metallic items, etc?

And just to keep on the topic of, within this 3ft min. spacing is the desk area for the current helper mechanic in the shop. Should his desk even be there?

Folks, I thank everyone for any help they can provide. Cheers.


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petersonra said:
Who really cares. The curtain or desk can be readily moved if it is in the way. Why fight over trivial stuff like this.
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1. Before making a decision, I like to seek the opinion of my colleagues for a second perspective.
2. I would like to take necessary precautions in case the man finds any fault with my work, especially if his curtains catch fire due to faulty building wiring that I did not install, and I can't upgrade because the property doesn't have that budgeted right now.
3. I get the call at night anyway that “the fire department is on their way, can you please make sure the gates open for them.” and I get grumpier at 2AM over trivial stuff.
 
What makes you think installing curtains in front of the panelboard is likely to cause them to burst into flames?

There are important things to worry about and this is way down the list of things to worry about
 
Doors are installed within the 3' workspace all the time and are not a violation as long as the open door(s) provides the width required, and with the door open the 3' depth is provided.
There would be no reason to prohibit the curtains or to require them to be fire resistant.
 
“But we can totally move the desk if you need us to”. Except it has a mountain of stuff stacked precariously on top and weighs 6x more than it should because it’s so full of paperwork or whatever.
 
electrofelon said:
Sure. Cuz Who is going to be enforcing working space after final inspection?
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Not even OSHA unless there is an incident. I did a lot of work at a OSHA VPP star rated plant, and they had few MCCs that did not come close to even meeting the required work space, and the OSHA reports never even mentioned that as a safety issue.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
Not even OSHA unless there is an incident. I did a lot of work at a OSHA VPP star rated plant, and they had few MCCs that did not come close to even meeting the required work space, and the OSHA reports never even mentioned that as a safety issue.
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Some places do periodic fire inspections of commercial occupancies. I can't say if or how many jurisdictions look at NEC working space issues. In Seattle, the only electrical related thing my client gets called on is extension cord related stuff. They definitely have tons of crap in front of their electrical panels 🙄
 
electrofelon said:
Some places do periodic fire inspections of commercial occupancies. I can't say if or how many jurisdictions look at NEC working space issues. In Seattle, the only electrical related thing my client gets called on is extension cord related stuff. They definitely have tons of crap in front of their electrical panels 🙄
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We've gotten the cord issue quite a lot in my earlier years here.
 
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