In a lot of older plants, personnel who are locking out equipment are not granted the convenience of a “local electrical disconnect,” meaning they have to use what I call “knife disconnects” such as this:
Or do we make the qualified electrical workers the “gatekeepers” of all electrical LOTO, and thus only they operate these switches?
When workers who are NOT “qualified electrical workers” operate these types of electrical disconnect(s), are we training them on the proper “one-arm technique” or, as I was trained to call it, the “left-hand rule”?
Most disconnect handles are mounted on the RIGHT side of the switch, while the hinges are on the left (as shown above) or on top of the box. To turn OFF or ON an electrical disconnect, we should be training everyone, regardless of their electrical safety status, to operate these devices/switches in the following manner:
- Stand to the RIGHT side of the switch, NEVER in front of the box
- Use your LEFT hand to operate the handle/switch
- Turn your body and face AWAY from the switch
- CLOSE your eyes and hold your breath
- “Throw” the disconnect lever
Using this method helps protect the worker if an arc flash does occur within the cabinet during this activity.
Now I can not share with you any OSHA standard that requires this, or that un-qualified electrical workers must be trained to do this, but this is REQUIRED for qualified workers training. It would be a very bad day when this happens, and the worker is standing in the line of fire, especially if they are not donned in FRC. I would imagine OSHA would use the GDC to cite making reference to NFPA 70E (which also does not contain these specifics), but this is a RECOGNIZED ELECTRICAL HAZARD and is abated by using this technique.
The question is… do we train our “non-qualified workers” to use this technique, or do we make the qualified electrical workers the “gatekeepers” of all electrical LOTO, and thus only they operate these switches?