Employees who work around electrical equipment, but are not
those defined as qualified employees, are required to be trained such that they
have sufficient information needed to provide for their safety.
Employees who are work on energized live (exposed) circuits
operating at 50 V or more are required to be qualified. Qualified Employees are defined as employees
that are knowledgeable of the construction, installation, and operation of the
equipment, and who has been trained to recognize and avoid the hazard
associated with working on the equipment.
Qualified Employees are required to have electrical safety training. Electrical safety training can be conducted in a classroom, through
on-the-job mentoring, or a combination of the two.
Topics that Qualified Employees should be trained to
include:
- OSHA requirements for
electrical safety
- NFPA 70E requirements for
electrical safety
- Electrical work permits
- Electrical hazards
- Risk assessments
- Shock hazard boundaries
- Arc Flash boundaries
- Personal protective
equipment
- Types
- Proper wear and fit
- Limitations
- Maintenance and care
- Equipment labeling
- Methodologies to reduce
electrical hazards
- Proper use and limitation
of electrical test equipment
Once a Qualified Employee has been trained, the employer
shall determine competency to electrical safety related work practices on an
annual basis. Annual competency can be
determined through regular supervision, or inspections.
A Qualified Employee shall receive additional electrical
safety training when:
- Supervision indicates the
employee is not complying with safety related work practices
- Annual inspections
indicate that the employee has insufficient knowledge of safety related
work practices
- New technology or
equipment necessitate changes in safety related work practices
- If the employee is
required to employ non-standard safety related work practices
