OSHA and Live Work

[iwire]

As the subject of live work comes up often I thought I would post some key OSHA standards on this subject.

All OSHA standards are freely available on line at OSHA

These standards I will post are from Selection and use of work practices - 1910.333

1910.333(a)

"General." Safety-related work practices shall be employed to prevent electric shock or other injuries resulting from either direct or indirect electrical contacts, when work is performed near or on equipment or circuits which are or may be energized. The specific safety-related work practices shall be consistent with the nature and extent of the associated electrical hazards.

This next one is the one that prevents us from working hot in most circumstances.

1910.333(a)(1)

"Deenergized parts." Live parts to which an employee may be exposed shall be deenergized before the employee works on or near them, unless the employer can demonstrate that deenergizing introduces additional or increased hazards or is infeasible due to equipment design or operational limitations. Live parts that operate at less than 50 volts to ground need not be deenergized if there will be no increased exposure to electrical burns or to explosion due to electric arcs.


Note 1: Examples of increased or additional hazards include interruption of life support equipment, deactivation of emergency alarm systems, shutdown of hazardous location ventilation equipment, or removal of illumination for an area.


Note 2: Examples of work that may be performed on or near energized circuit parts because of infeasibility due to equipment design or operational limitations include testing of electric circuits that can only be performed with the circuit energized and work on circuits that form an integral part of a continuous industrial process in a chemical plant that would otherwise need to be completely shut down in order to permit work on one circuit or piece of equipment.


Note 3: Work on or near deenergized parts is covered by paragraph (b) of this section.

1910.333(a)(2)

"Energized parts." If the exposed live parts are not deenergized (i.e., for reasons of increased or additional hazards or infeasibility), other safety-related work practices shall be used to protect employees who may be exposed to the electrical hazards involved. Such work practices shall protect employees against contact with energized circuit parts directly with any part of their body or indirectly through some other conductive object. The work practices that are used shall be suitable for the conditions under which the work is to be performed and for the voltage level of the exposed electric conductors or circuit parts. Specific work practice requirements are detailed in paragraph (c) of this section.

1910.333(c)

"Working on or near exposed energized parts."

1910.333(c)(1)

"Application." This paragraph applies to work performed on exposed live parts (involving either direct contact or by means of tools or materials) or near enough to them for employees to be exposed to any hazard they present.

Now this one explains what is required if we have to work live.

..1910.333(c)(2)
"Work on energized equipment." Only qualified persons may work on electric circuit parts or equipment that have not been deenergized under the procedures of paragraph (b) of this section. Such persons shall be capable of working safely on energized circuits and shall be familiar with the proper use of special precautionary techniques, personal protective equipment, insulating and shielding materials, and insulated tools.

[ February 08, 2004, 12:21 PM: Message edited by: iwire ]

 

[noxx]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

Note 2: Examples of work that may be performed on or near energized circuit parts because of infeasibility due to equipment design or operational limitations include testing of electric circuits that can only be performed with the circuit energized

Not being much involved in installation I find this covers most of my own work, as we often work with energized systems in the process of troubleshooting. Nice to know I'm not in complete violation, I suppose.

 

[pierre]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

Hello Noxx

Just curious, when you are conducting troubleshooting, what precautions if any do you take - training, insulated tools, the proper meters, clothing, safety glasses, etc... I am wondering not to put you on the spot, but as Bob has mentioned we all work live at some point and I am curious as to how most guys treat this subject.

Pierre

Pierre

 

[jxofaltrds]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

"insulated tools"

Look at your tools. I mean read the labels.

How many are rated for live use?

I doubt if many (if any) here carry the rated tools.

Mike P.

 

[paul32]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

To work in a residential panel that isn't live would require pulling the meter, unless there are places that have disconnects before the panel. Does that qualify as infeasible? My assumption is not, but also nobody would ever actually pull the meter so the OSHA guidelines are always violated in this case.

 

[jimwalker]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

PAUL32 ,pulling the meter is not the real problem.It at a min.would require us to call the poco and have it resealed.Now if every time we worked on a panel we pulled the meter then the poco would be needing to make a charge.This is another area where OSHA creates an unsolvable problem.Real easy to type a rule,following it might be to involved and often will be violated.

 

[charlie tuna]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

from what i read, or how i interpet the rule i think things like:
must have a good reason
must be qualified
must know the system is energized
must have safe working space and lighting
must have second qualified person standing by
with c.p.r. training
must use proper insulated tools
must be insulated from ground
must have eye protection
must have long sleeve cotten shirt
must use common sense for the task at hand
example: not installing a 400 amp fuse
in an energized switch under
load.
must take precautions for the unexpected to
happen


my opinion not osha's

e cotten shirt

 

[websparky]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

Charlie,

I couldn't agree more!

The only thing I would add is a pair of rated gloves.

 

[mjf]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

I have no "formal" electrical training or education, just my "hands on" with the licensed master electrician who hired me at age 19. Been running wires and troubleshooting circuits, etc. for 17 years. I keep reading "long sleeve cotton shirt" in this forum as a safety precaution when working on live circuits. Could someone please explain? I sure don't mind taking precautions.

Any day above ground is a good day!!!!!

 

[pierre]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

Hello Mike
Did you know that the Dutchess County Electrical Contractors Association is having an all day seminar with 4 sections on Saturday March 13th?
I am one of the 4 presenters If you are interested, let me know and I will get you the info!

The reason for the long sleeved shirt is to help mitigate the injury that could be sustained by a fault condition, as bare skin affords no protection and your hands and arms are the closest to the potential fault area.

Pierre

 

[charlie tuna]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

bussman has a safety film i asked and they sent me at no cost. it's about twenty minutes long and i loan it to the building engineering departments every year or so. it explains flash temperatures in an electrical fault. it is only present for a fraction of a second but since it's so high it damages skin and flesh. cotton supposidly has no plastics and will not melt into the skin like other materials. i have considered the new shirts seen in the trade magazines but can't get a price and if they are too hot to wear????

 

[ryan_618]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

Charlie: I watched the Bussman video you were talking about yesterday at our IAEI meeting, and I though it was done very well.

I would like to get my hands on a copy of it as well. How did you get your copy?

 

[mjf]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

Originally posted by pierre:

Did you know that the Dutchess County Electrical Contractors Association is having an all day seminar with 4 sections on Saturday March 13th?
I am one of the 4 presenters If you are interested, let me know and I will get you the info!

Pierre,

Is this seminar open to anyone? I'm not licenced, I just do what I know how to do, where I'm allowed to do it. I do get inspections( have never failed one, yet, and hope not to. If this seminar is open to a very electrically uneducated person like myself than I would definitely be interested in the info!!

 

[charlie tuna]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

i looked them up on the net and shot them an e-mail request --- even offered to pay for it but they said no and sent me a copy. needless to say when i buy fuses it's always going to be bussman!

 

[ryan_618]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

Thanks Charlie, I think I'll give that a try. That is quite an eye-opening video.

 

[wiremonkey78]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

I was wondering about pulling wire in cable trays. With live circuits 600 volts or less. We have some new guys in the shop that say where they used to work that wasn't allowed. I work for a municipal in Missouri and they trained us on the job. I was just wondering what was correct.

 

[rburns001]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

I work mostly industrial work. I have been working industrial for 25 years. I do not like hearing or saying "we've always done it that way" so I will skip that part and say - We do not let our electricians walk the cable tray anymore, the electricians use a 2x4 or 2x6 layed across the top of the tray in order to have a place to sit while pulling cable, and we now have better ways to pull than when I had to do this. That is the personnel side of this. I have never heard and cant think of a good reason to not pull cable with energized cable. I can think of a reason someone came up with the idea because we have people like that next door to us, their electricians were told to never use channel-locks. They have to use pipe wrenches on their aluminum conduit. What we tell new people is - " I dont care how they do things up north" no offense to all the fine electricians who live up north

 

[peter d]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

rburns001,

I have never heard and cant think of a good reason to not pull cable with energized cable.

Are you sure? There are very good reasons why you should not pull cable into an energized tray.

[ March 17, 2004, 06:23 PM: Message edited by: peter d ]

 

[wiremonkey78]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

Well if you can think of plenty of reasons. What are they? That is the reasson I posted this.

 

[ryan_618]

Re: OSHA and Live Work

Perhaps before asking yourself "what would OSHA think of this", you should ask yourself, "what would my wife and kids do without me in their world".

Please don't work energized.