Installation of MV equpment in a facility without qualified personel

[mull982]

We are currently supporting a customer with a design and potential future equipment/installation of medium voltage equipment in a commercial space to support some of their test lab needs. The facility does not currently have any qualified personnel or electrical staff to support the facilities LV distribution system let alone the new MV system that would be added.

I'm curious if others have been involved in a similar situation and how they handled it from a liability standpoint. Is the extent of the responsibility simply educating the customer that they need to hire qualified electrical staff to support the new equipment (which they are aware of) or does it extend beyond that, perhaps even limiting what we are able to provide?

Are there any NEC restrictions that prevent the installation of electrical equipment in an existing warehouse space that will be designated as a working lab contained by new chain-link fencing?

 

[PaulMmn]

Is it any different than building a house with a 300 Amp service just in case we want an electric car?

 

[retirede]

I was a plant engineer in such a facility. Our in-house guys handled everything below 600V and knew better than to mess with the MV. We would bring in qualified ECs when necessary to work on the MV systems.

 

[Jraef]

The NEC makes no distinction between working with MV vs LV, because that's not really the purview of the NEC, that would be an OSHA thing. But even OSHA has no specifics about the voltage, other than the differences in the issue of safe electrical practices.

In some jurisdictions however, you need a special certification to be qualified to make cable terminations on MV equipment, and that is often (over) extended to being qualified to work on it at all (one could make the argument that you don't always need to make up connections to work on something). That's the case where I live. I did a project years ago where we put in some 4160V soft starters on big well pumps for a water district. After it was done and accepted, I was training the district maintenance electricians on the units and when I was done, the supervisor asked them if they understood everything. The lead guy said yes, but they were never going to open the doors because none of them were certified to work on MV, which was a shock to the supe. They sent 2 of them to get certified and when they came back, they demanded raises!