Safety and Health Program- Electrical Safety and Ground Fault

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Electrical Safety and Ground Fault

GENERAL INTRODUCTION:

This Chapter addresses electrical safety requirements that are necessary for the practical safeguarding of employees involved in construction work and is divided into four major divisions and applicable definitions as follows:

(a) Installation safety requirements. Included in this category are electric equipment and installations used to provide electric power and light on jobsites.

(b) Safety-related work practices. In addition to covering the hazards arising from the use of electricity at jobsites, these regulations also cover the hazards arising from the accidental contact, direct or indirect, by employees with all energized lines, above or below ground, passing through or near the jobsite.

(c) Safety-related maintenance and environmental considerations.

(d) Safety requirements for special equipment.

(e) Definitions.

INSTALLATION SAFETY REQUIREMENTS

(a) Covered. This section contain installation safety requirements for electrical equipment and installations used to provide electric power and light at the jobsite. These sections apply to installations, both temporary and permanent, used on the jobsite; but these sections do not apply to existing permanent installations that were in place before the construction activity commenced.

(b) Not covered. This section does not cover installations used for the generation, transmission, and distribution of electric energy, including related communication, metering, control, and transformation installations. (However, these regulations do cover portable and vehicle-mounted generators used to provide power for equipment used at the jobsite.) See Chapter V of this Part for the construction of power distribution and transmission lines.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

(a) Approval. All electrical conductors and equipment shall be approved.

(b) Examination, installation, and use of equipment.

(1) Examination. The Company shall ensure that electrical equipment is free from recognized hazards that are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees. Safety of equipment shall be determined on the basis of the following considerations:

(i) Suitability for installation and use in conformity with the provisions of this Chapter. Suitability of equipment for an identified purpose may be evidenced by listing, labeling, or certification for that identified purpose.

(ii) Mechanical strength and durability, including, for parts designed to enclose and protect other equipment, the adequacy of the protection thus provided.

(iii) Electrical insulation.

(iv) Heating effects under conditions of use.

(v) Arcing effects.

(vi) Classification by type, size, voltage, current capacity, specific use.

(vii) Other factors which contribute to the practical safeguarding of employees using or likely to come in contact with the equipment.

(2) Installation and use. Listed, labeled, or certified equipment shall be installed and used in accordance with instructions included in the listing, labeling, or certification.

(c) Interrupting rating. Equipment intended to break current shall have an interrupting rating at system voltage sufficient for the current that must be interrupted.

(d) Mounting and cooling of equipment.