Good gloves for residential home inspection?

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HomeInspectorKenton

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I'm writing a safety course for home inspectors. Most of our members (InterNACHI) do residential inspections. For residential inspection of load centers, most of which are less than 200 amp, what kind of gloves should I recommend they wear?
I think if I recommend electrical gloves, they will find them too expensive and awkward and will use nothing, like most of them do now.
 
Do I have this correctly?

You want to write a safety program that recommends the wrong and likely unsafe gloves because the right gloves cost to much. :slaphead:
 
All gloves are awkward for removing screws. Unless maybe they are surgical gloves. As far as cost, the ones we have are not very expensive. Less then $50 I believe. Recommend whatever you want but there is no doubt in my mind, they won't wear any. They most likely don't/won't shut the main breaker off either.
 
Does Colorado require a home inspectors license yet? I have watched home inspectors do an inspection and never remove the panel cover, although in some states they are required to inspect items that require the removal of the panel cover. Why wear gloves when they dont wear safety glasses or other PPE? Class 0 linemans gloves (or electricians gloves) are rated for 1000V, and are around the $50-$70 mark, but will the inspectors have them tested on a regular basis? They won't last forever.

I have often wondered why more states do not require a license or any type of insurance, whether liability, O&E, or both.
 
HomeInspectorKenton said:
I'm writing a safety course for home inspectors. Most of our members (InterNACHI) do residential inspections. For residential inspection of load centers, most of which are less than 200 amp, what kind of gloves should I recommend they wear?
I think if I recommend electrical gloves, they will find them too expensive and awkward and will use nothing, like most of them do now.
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you need to get your guys a copy of the NFPA 70E......http://www.nfpa.org/aboutthecodes/AboutTheCodes.asp?DocNum=70E&cookie_test=1


It does not matter how much the equipment cost.
 
Kenton is trying to get a realistic view of what HI's will actually use in the field. Full PPE is most likely out of the question. Proper gloves might be a good starting point and better than nothing.
 
I'm not an arc flash person, but from what I have read on here, 240/120 panel is a very low risk for an arc flash, gloves, long sleeve FR cotton shirt, and face protection is about all I can see needed? I may be wrong?

One of the most dangerous jobs when inspecting a panel even with the main breaker off is the removing and replacement of the panel cover, you never know how close those service entrance cables are in proximity to the panel screws, and I have myself run the screws in to them, it will make a loud bang and sparks will fly, but nothing like I have seen with higher incentive voltages like 277.

Here in Indiana we have a state wide license for HI's, it was to get control of them to provide a guide line they must follow and to stop them from over stepping their authority of which they have very little if any, here they are only to inform on the condition of a house and give recommendations only, any qualified electrician can over ride their recommendation.
 
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hurk27 said:
I'm not an arc flash person, but from what I have read on here, 240/120 panel is a very low risk for an arc flash, gloves, long sleeve FR cotton shirt, and face protection is about all I can see needed? I may be wrong?

One of the most dangerous jobs when inspecting a panel even with the main breaker off is the removing and replacement of the panel cover, you never know how close those service entrance cables are in proximity to the panel screws, and I have myself run the screws in to them, it will make a loud bang and sparks will fly, but nothing like I have seen with higher incentive voltages like 277.

Here in Indiana we have a state wide license for HI's, it was to get control of them to provide a guide line they must follow and to stop them from over stepping their authority of which they have very little if any, here they are only to inform on the condition of a house and give recommendations only, any qualified electrician can over ride their recommendation.
Click to expand...

Indiana has a license for HIs but not for electricians?
 
ptonsparky said:
All gloves are awkward for removing screws. Unless maybe they are surgical gloves. As far as cost, the ones we have are not very expensive. Less then $50 I believe. Recommend whatever you want but there is no doubt in my mind, they won't wear any. They most likely don't/won't shut the main breaker off either.
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I have never seen ANY inspector wear gloves or shut off the main when doing an inspection on a residence, even when inspection is done with the panel cover off and the panel energized. And yes, they do poke around in there with screwdrivers and flashlights.

So I have to agree, they won't wear them anyway.
 
hurk27 said:
I'm not an arc flash person, but from what I have read on here, 240/120 panel is a very low risk for an arc flash, gloves, long sleeve FR cotton shirt, and face protection is about all I can see needed? I may be wrong?
Click to expand...

I'll admit I'm not that well informed in the area of arc flash protection and what 70E requires myself, but from what I understand you have to know what the potential incident energy is before you know what is safe PPE. If you don't know what the potential incident energy is then you assume the worst.

There is also the issue that there are very few conditions that warrant live work. How is an inspector supposed to comply with that without having it turned off?

Self employed HI's its more complicated. Inspector working for an AHJ is an employee of AHJ and OSHA rules apply to them.
 
Grainger has glove kits on clearance sometimes it comes with the bag, rated gloves, and the protectors. 500v would be fine unless your doing other work that is up in the 480V range. I just bought a kit for 125bucks. They are a bit hard to work with at times but I have put in screws as small as 8-32 with them on. I rather be safe than time efficent so I use them. For the inspections I doubt it would to cumbersome especially if they use them enough to get use to them.
 
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