Your minimum PPE for residential breaker box work

[ericsarratt]

In industrial situations I will often put up red danger tape to keep rubberneckers back. Some facilities require it. It's in 70E, too.

What about industrial circuit breaker panels, say 480v?

Does anyone ever drape an arc flash blanket over the part of the panel that they are not working on?

Or does everyone just normally wear PPE when working on them hot (the lugs and some parts are still hot)?

 

[tortuga]

What about industrial circuit breaker panels, say 480v?

I never work on over 240V hot. I will test stuff above 240 if its got a up-to-date label and IF I have a suit for it.
If I have to test something and the plant does not have up to date labeling, I just power it down and do a controlled test.
If its not really obvious its off, like cutout on a pole, I'll even suit up just to verify its off.
Do I ever feel pressured into working hot? Yes for sure. But they can just fire me and thats fine, there is tons of work out there.
Do customers sometimes use another company that will work hot? For sure they do.
Thats just my two cents and I am still alive after 29 years in the field.

 

[don_resqcapt19]

What about industrial circuit breaker panels, say 480v?

Does anyone ever drape an arc flash blanket over the part of the panel that they are not working on?

Or does everyone just normally wear PPE when working on them hot (the lugs and some parts are still hot)?

Actual hot work is forbidden by most industrial facilities as well as 70E. Yes, there are a couple of exceptions, but very very rare that they apply.
Of course you still need the full PPE for the calculated incident energy while trouble shooting and verifying the de-energized condition. You would wear the PPE as you can't put an arc flash blanked on the equipment without wearing the correct PPE to be that close to the equipment.

 

[kwired]

I have done hundreds of 100 & 200 amp services and always wear eye protection. Back in the 1960 & 70's never wore gloves to tie in services . One thing that I worried about if you do create an arc flash the ultility company does an extremely poor job of overload protection. They only have a fuse on the primary side of transformers. When I asked a PECO lineman about their overload protection he said they rather have your house burn down the thier oversized fuse open and require a bucket truck to respond.

It isn't that POCO would rather see your house burn down, they don't want to have to go out and reset something that could have cleared itself.

Their equipment is up high on poles, underground or inside vaults or other reasonably well protected containers for the expected conditions.

You overload a line within your house you risk burning down the house, more precise overcurrent protection needed on that line. Their outside lines generally don't cause damage to other items if they are overloaded or even if a weak connection occurs. The one main exception is sparks falling from overhead items and starting a grass fire or something like that.

But if a tree branch falls on a line they don't want it to take out a whole circuit or major segment of their distribution system, unless it has been given time to clear itself and fails to do so. Out in rural areas here we get ice on the lines in winter sometimes, they begin to sag, maybe the ice breaks off a lower conductor and it springs back up and contacts a higher conductor, often just for a very short time and then things are clear again. Recloser devices will cycle but they stay closed if the fault is cleared and they don't have to send a crew out to reset anything.

 

[ericsarratt]

You would wear the PPE as you can't put an arc flash blanked on the equipment without wearing the correct PPE to be that close to the equipment.

Thanks!

The three areas I am trying to get up to speed on are home wiring (for my own house), HVAC units and septic pump control panels.

I am having to teach myself this because nobody I have trained with has any understanding of safety gear or safe work practices.

We didn't work hot, but we troubleshoot hot; it is scary.

 

[James L]

we troubleshoot hot; it is scary

Scary? Dang

Troubleshooting hot is necessary in residential work.

As for PPE, I wear reading glasses which help keep dust out of my eyes.

Last week I was lounging around the house before work. Looked at the clock and realized I needed to get going. Got to the job and realized I'd fogotten to change from flip-flops to socks and tennis shoes.

Reminded my of the time I ran a service truck. I showed up to a house and the owner told me I didn't look like an electrician

 

[hillbilly1]

When I was doing safety inspections, we had a lot of night work, and the office wanted to check up on those guys because they didn’t think anybody from the office would show up at midnight. Got to one job, the foreman came into the building wearing flip flops and shorts, and when he saw me, he did a “Whoops! I forgot to change before I came in” and went back to change. There was a light fixture open with a ladder under it, half of it was still burning, so they were apparently changing the ballast live. Nobody went near that ladder all night long! LOL!

 

[letgomywago]

Scary? Dang

Troubleshooting hot is necessary in residential work.

As for PPE, I wear reading glasses which help keep dust out of my eyes.

Last week I was lounging around the house before work. Looked at the clock and realized I needed to get going. Got to the job and realized I'd fogotten to change from flip-flops to socks and tennis shoes.

Reminded my of the time I ran a service truck. I showed up to a house and the owner told me I didn't look like an electrician

One of my reviews is "don't mind his age or the old van he's a good efficient knowledgeable electrician". I had to send that to my friends because how funny it was to see written down.

 

[Joethemechanic]

One of my reviews is "don't mind his age or the old van he's a good efficient knowledgeable electrician". I had to send that to my friends because how funny it was to see written down.

How old is your van?

 

[letgomywago]

How old is your van?

View attachment 2566931 View attachment 2566932

2000 e350 with 330k

 

[Joethemechanic]

2000 e350 with 330k

2000???? That's not old

 

[letgomywago]

2000???? That's not old

Well I was 3 when it was made so it's old to me. Oldest work truck I've used was 94

 

[Joethemechanic]

Well I was 3 when it was made so it's old to me. Oldest work truck I've used was 94

I could see you in something like this. You were 3 when this one was made too

 

[letgomywago]

I could see you in something like this. You were 3 when this one was made too

View attachment 2566937

Not quite. Old pensky van.

 

[Joethemechanic]

All these go off tomorrow, But they are in Butte Montana, way way too far away for me to bid.

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[garbo]

Scary? Dang

Troubleshooting hot is necessary in residential work.

As for PPE, I wear reading glasses which help keep dust out of my eyes.

Last week I was lounging around the house before work. Looked at the clock and realized I needed to get going. Got to the job and realized I'd fogotten to change from flip-flops to socks and tennis shoes.

Reminded my of the time I ran a service truck. I showed up to a house and the owner told me I didn't look like an electrician

Reminds me of the very talented young sparky that I was paired with. He came in one Sunday morning looking awful. Thought he was out all night partying. He was have trouble reading a schematic when he finally realised that he had his contacts in the wrong eyes.

 

[Joethemechanic]

This is just my opinion, but I really think the amount of PPE required to do almost every job is getting out of hand.

And to make matters worse, much of it is ill-fitting, uncomfortable, clumsy to work in, and disorenting

 

[gadfly56]

This is just my opinion, but I really think the amount of PPE required to do almost every job is getting out of hand.

And to make matters worse, much of it is ill-fitting, uncomfortable, clumsy to work in, and disorenting

Reducing dexterity and increasing the chance that you'll touch something you shouldn't.

 

[busman]

I could see you in something like this. You were 3 when this one was made too

View attachment 2566937

My bucket truck is a '97 Ford Super Duty.

 

[Joethemechanic]

Reducing dexterity and increasing the chance that you'll touch something you shouldn't.

This is one I've been encountering at some of the local plants.

Safety guys want maintenance to fill out forms, outline a plan, and get approval for ANY non-routine task. What is a routine task?