I do not write a lot about Electrical Safety-Related Work Practices (ESRWP) as I tend to leave this area of safety to those who specialize in it. But as safety professionals, we MUST be trained in these safety practices so as to ensure our workers are being protected by following these ESRWPs. The #1 failure of our electrical safety efforts centers around “live-work” and just when both OSHA and NFPA state live work can be performed AND also the safe work practices that MUST be in place for this “love work” to be performed. This “live-work” MOST CERTAINLY includes “troubleshooting”, which seems to cause most of the issues around the NFPA and OSHA requirements. But let’s look at the two (2) conditions where “live-work” is permitted:
1) ADDITIONAL HAZARDS or INCREASED RISK
Energized work shall be permitted where the employer can demonstrate that de-energizing introduces ADDITIONAL HAZARDS or INCREASED RISK.
Examples of additional hazards or increased risk include, but are not limited to,
- interruption of life-support equipment,
- deactivation of emergency alarm systems, and
- the shutdown of hazardous location ventilation equipment
2) INFEASIBILITY
Energized work shall be permitted where the employer can demonstrate that the task to be performed is INFEASIBLE IN A DE-ENERGIZED STATE due to equipment design or operational limitations.
Examples of work that might be performed within the limited approach boundary of exposed energized electrical conductors or circuit parts because of infeasibility due to equipment design or operational limitations include
- performing diagnostics and testing (for example, start-up or troubleshooting) of electric circuits that can only be performed with the circuit energized and
- work on circuits that form an integral part of a continuous process that would otherwise need to be completely shut down in order to permit work on one circuit or piece of equipment
And in the 2021 edition, NFPA has this little reminder…
Worker Alert
You should expect that you will not be placed in harm’s way while at work.
Revenue, quotas, management pressures, overtime shifts, and so forth are NOT ACCEPTABLE REASONS for you to be at risk of injury.