Official NFPA 70E or arc flash certification?

[Butcher Pete]

Are there official NFPA70E or Arc Flash training certifications for performing energized work?

A client site has requested a copy of certifications for our employees on site. We deemed the employees electrically knowledgeable persons, and they have completed an arc flash training course but were not supplied with an official certificate of any kind upon completion.

The NFPA70E seems to leave this up to interpretation as to what an electrically qualified person is.

I have found an older thread stating there is no certification, but that was in 2007 and arc flash is in its relative infancy so I am making sure the correct certifications are aquired.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[petersonra]

normally when we get trained we get a certificate signed by the trainer. usually comes in a pdf that we have to print out if we want a paper copy.

you are certified if you have a certificate. not anymore complicated than that.

 

[Butcher Pete]

Alright, I can accept that it is that simple.

But who is qualified to give out certificates? Can anyone train you and print you out a certificate?

 

[petersonra]

Alright, I can accept that it is that simple.

But who is qualified to give out certificates? Can anyone train you and print you out a certificate?

anyone the employer deems qualified to do the training. it is solely up to the employer. just like it is up to the employer to determine what training is required for each task an employee does.

incidentally, the certification requirement might be a contractual requirement with a customer but it is not something any governmental body requires. The training is required, and records of the training are required to be kept, but there is no requirement that a trained person receive any kind of certificate.

 

[Butcher Pete]

OK that clears it up, thank you for all the help Bob!

 

[wbdvt]

When my company does an 8 hr training class for NFPA 70E, we issue certificates of course completion if the attendee has successfully completed a test at the end of training. The certificates are sent to the employer along with a synopsis of course content. There is no certification but there are some specific training as outlined in NFPA 70E-015 Art. 110.2

 

[wtucker]

Are there official NFPA70E or Arc Flash training certifications for performing energized work?

A client site has requested a copy of certifications for our employees on site. We deemed the employees electrically knowledgeable persons, and they have completed an arc flash training course but were not supplied with an official certificate of any kind upon completion.

Three troubles: First, Third, "certification" means different things to different people.

Second, the length, kind (classroom or hands-on) and quality of training varies.

Third, NFPA 70E Art. 130.3 says that to do energized electrical work, one must be qualified to work on the equipment at hand. Folks with a residential background may be lost in commercial.

Your client may be satisfied with a table of each individual's relevant training, and your note saying you certify that it's true.

 

[petersonra]

Three troubles: First, Third, "certification" means different things to different people.

Not really. It means only that you have a certificate attesting to the training. It may not be especially meaningful, and usually isn't, but that is all it means.

Second, the length, kind (classroom or hands-on) and quality of training varies.

As it should be. Training is supposed to be tailored to the needs of the employer and the employee. Electrical training for some employees might consist of telling them to stay out of electrical boxes. That is all a lot of employees need to know about electricity.

Third, NFPA 70E Art. 130.3 says that to do energized electrical work, one must be qualified to work on the equipment at hand. Folks with a residential background may be lost in commercial.

Employees performing specific tasks are required to be trained to safely accomplish those tasks. A lot of electricians are completely unsuited to do work on medium voltage equipment too. But, if they don't work on it, why would you waste time and money training them to do so?

Your client may be satisfied with a table of each individual's relevant training, and your note saying you certify that it's true.
Or they may be satisfied with a letter stating that all employees that will be on site have been properly trained for all the tasks they will be performing on site. It is just a matter of asking what they will accept. We have one customer that requires third party training for arc flash, but everything else can be done internally.

Rather than further guessing, just ask them what they want.

 

[petersonra]

When my company does an 8 hr training class for NFPA 70E, we issue certificates of course completion if the attendee has successfully completed a test at the end of training. The certificates are sent to the employer along with a synopsis of course content. There is no certification but there are some specific training as outlined in NFPA 70E-015 Art. 110.2

If you gave them a certificate, there has been "certification".

years ago i used to work for a place that had a standard option for certified drawings for standard products.

you know what we did? we would go to the mail room and get the stamp that said "certified" on it and stamp every drawing. no signature, no PE seal, just "certified".

it was a surprisingly popular option that people would ask for. Most of the time it was done by the woman that ran the print room.

later we got a fancy print machine that did the stamping for us. you could add a line of comment to the dwg when it printed out. if you bought certified drawings, they all came out with a comment that said "certified".

 

[Smart $]

...
later we got a fancy print machine that did the stamping for us. you could add a line of comment to the dwg when it printed out. if you bought certified drawings, they all came out with a comment that said "certified".

I hereby certify that I am certifiable.