Is "safe-off" a proper electrical term?

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Gina1981

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Forensic Engineer
Is "safe-off" a proper electrical term? Does NEC or another code have a specific term that's used?
I use the term often in my inspection reports, just wondering if there is a more "professional" term I should be using.
 
The term I've encountered is it means render permanently unenergized (i.e., in preparation for demolition).

The term does not appear in the NEC. In fact, the NEC doesn't talk about the subject at all (if we're talking about demolition). The only words about that are for providing temporary power during demolition
 
It's a nice piece of jargon. If you mean "made safe to work on", that could mean different things depending on voltage levels and local procedures. Might be a place where it's better to use a few extra words (e.g. "all electric sources have been permanently disconnected, no electrical hazards remain").
 
K8MHZ said:
I have never heard of that term before. What, exactly, does it mean?
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It's to cap, wire nut, tape, or otherwise make safe a wire that was cut, from a person accidently touching the exposed end of the wire. Its usually done when a part of the system is demolished (or in the process of being demolished) or abandoned. It is sometimes done when the wire cannot be properly locked/tagged out.
 
zbang said:
It's a nice piece of jargon. If you mean "made safe to work on", that could mean different things depending on voltage levels and local procedures. Might be a place where it's better to use a few extra words (e.g. "all electric sources have been permanently disconnected, no electrical hazards remain").
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I've seen it used and have used it to mean that the particular wire was capped, had a wire nut placed on the end, taped, or otherwise made safe against a person accidently touching the wire end. It is generally done if all sources cannot be disconnected, and the circuit cannot be properly locked/tagged out.
 
zbang said:
It's a nice piece of jargon. If you mean "made safe to work on", that could mean different things depending on voltage levels and local procedures. Might be a place where it's better to use a few extra words (e.g. "all electric sources have been permanently disconnected, no electrical hazards remain").
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More broadly, in the sense of lockout/tagout, it would mean removing all sources of energy (electric, hydraulic, pneumatic, etc) from a piece of equipment, and eliminating stored energy hazards (discharging capacitors, emptying air receivers, lowering suspended loads, etc).
 
I'm sure it's not a official term, just slang we electricians use (and we have a lot of slang). The way it's used around here, "safe-off" means just to make something safe temporarily. An example would be to wrap the open ends of hot wires with electrical tape. It makes them safe to work around, but it's not a permanent solution.
 
I've never heard or used the term .
As far as equipment goes, I suppose some things would be safer in the on mode. Especially alarms or brakes :oops:
 
Coppersmith said:
I'm sure it's not a official term, just slang we electricians use (and we have a lot of slang). The way it's used around here, "safe-off" means just to make something safe temporarily. An example would be to wrap the open ends of hot wires with electrical tape. It makes them safe to work around, but it's not a permanent solution.
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Exactly!
 
Gina1981 said:
I've seen it used and have used it to mean that the particular wire was capped, had a wire nut placed on the end, taped, or otherwise made safe against a person accidently touching the wire end. It is generally done if all sources cannot be disconnected, and the circuit cannot be properly locked/tagged out.
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Might be a regional thing but that is exactly what it means. For example, before leaving live wires in a junction box you would use a means to "safe off" the ends in case someone were to open the box.
 
I hear and use it all the time. Never thought about it being "official" or not. I write that sometimes on an inspection report that is done in response to a Home Inspection report.
 
Gina1981 said:
I've seen it used and have used it to mean that the particular wire was capped, had a wire nut placed on the end, taped, or otherwise made safe against a person accidently touching the wire end. It is generally done if all sources cannot be disconnected, and the circuit cannot be properly locked/tagged out.
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I'd call it insulated, covered, guarded, capped or something along those lines. Would not use the word "off" in any kind of description of what you are doing here.
 
kwired said:
I'd call it insulated, covered, guarded, capped or something along those lines. Would not use the word "off" in any kind of description of what you are doing here.
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mlnk said:
loose wires have been capped
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Exactly. I was surprised by the other definition, and not in a good way. The box or raceway is either open or closed, covers on. The power is either on or off. If you have the box cover off and the power to the wires is or may be on, I would never call that a safe off and probably never work with a guy who tried that on me. That's the first thing I would think if I saw that., the coworker is unsafe.
 
I'm not sure if the term safe-off is "proper" or not but it's used here in our area (NY & NJ) often. Kind of like "top-off" the gas tank or "top-off" your glass of beer. Probably a slang term but we all know from the inference what the meaning is. Now, if you bring this up to the CMP's at the NEC they will form a committee to discuss it and several Code cycles later it will come out as "make it safe" or "insure the installation is safe" or something to that nature. Kind of like making 350 MCM sound better by calling it 350 kcmills so everyone can understand it better.:)
 
to me when working on a hi voltage line in the past say 7.2kv or 13.5kv , 'safe-off' means the line is off and also temporarily grounded, so there is no chance the line can become energized.
So in residential I would take that to mean its connected to the equipment ground bar, so it cant accidentally become energized.
 
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