work practices

[tsloan]

Hello all, I want to put some feelers out regarding energized work practices. For instance, installing busway switches into an energized bus? or installing 480v breakers in energized gear? all while wearing appropriate ppe. I know osha says it must be justified, but who makes that decision? is shutting down production justifiable for instance? I work in an automotive supplier manufacturing plant where production runs 24/7/363ish and shutting down has never been an option in the past but im trying to change the culture. any thoughts are appreciated. or your facilities procedure? thanks in advance

 

[jumper]

I moved your thread to the safety forum.

 

[zog]

Hello all, I want to put some feelers out regarding energized work practices. For instance, installing busway switches into an energized bus? or installing 480v breakers in energized gear? all while wearing appropriate ppe. I know osha says it must be justified, but who makes that decision? is shutting down production justifiable for instance? I work in an automotive supplier manufacturing plant where production runs 24/7/363ish and shutting down has never been an option in the past but im trying to change the culture. any thoughts are appreciated. or your facilities procedure? thanks in advance

Unless shutting down production of a continuous process creates a hazard in itself (Chemical plant for example) then it would not be something you can justify because it costs money or is inconvenient. FYI, I know GM and Ford both specifically banned installing bus plugs on an energized bus about 15 years ago even before most companies started taking 70E seriously. If you are a supplier to them maybe they can share some ESWP's with you.

 

[Strathead]

Hello all, I want to put some feelers out regarding energized work practices. For instance, installing busway switches into an energized bus? or installing 480v breakers in energized gear? all while wearing appropriate ppe. I know osha says it must be justified, but who makes that decision? is shutting down production justifiable for instance? I work in an automotive supplier manufacturing plant where production runs 24/7/363ish and shutting down has never been an option in the past but im trying to change the culture. any thoughts are appreciated. or your facilities procedure? thanks in advance

I personally had a worker get third degree burns installing a new Siemens bus plug in a high rise in Oakland. We had fought with them for some time about receiving the plugs with cracked insulators. They said it was us. This one didn't have visible signs. After the incident, and extensive investigation it was discovered that the cardboard use to pack them would get compressed after multiple instances of rough handling during shipping. They redesigned their entire packaging. Also the building stopped allowing hot installation. We just had to do it at 2:00 in the morning. 3 or 4 IT departments would have to show up to recover their systems.

I would never do it hot again unless there was a threat to people that required it. If it is a problem, send an email reminding of the of NFPA 70E and CC it to the legal department, expressing your concern that when someone gets hurt, it may be too late. That will probably do the trick.

 

[iwire]

installing busway switches into an energized bus? or installing 480v breakers in energized gear? all while wearing appropriate ppe. I know osha says it must be justified, but who makes that decision?

PPE or not none of that work can be justified to OSHA unless shutting it down is more of a hazard than not shutting it down.

Wearing PPE does not give you a free pass to do any hot work you want.