First, let me explain the situation. The place I work at, has 5 different institutions, and our maint. dept. is split up between the 5. Each area has an electrician, a plumber, hvac, etc. One of the electricians is our union president, and being that he is the president over a 600+ member union local, he is very rarely in his area to keep up his work load. For a long time now, the supervisor over that area, continues to task other tradesman to perform work that is not within the scope of their training, particularly the electrical work. Most of the electrical work is considered commercial, but we do have 5 powerhouses, in his area, with voltages up to 12,470vac. Examples of the other work being performed are, garage mechanic pouring concrete, welder installing drywall, and several trades performing electrical work. This has gotten out of hand now, because it has spread to all 5 areas. One of the guys has even said that he does not feel comfortable working with electricity, but the boss insists. Maybe I'm biased, but I have always felt that our trade was a specialized trade, and you shouldn't let just anyone do it without proper training and experience. I've read OSHA regulations top to bottom, but can't find anything written clearly enough to enforce this. It basically says that a qualified person is someone who has had classroom or on the job training, and that they must be familiar with the equipment they are working on and voltages present. With a vague description as that, our bosses could justify this by saying, for example, the hvac guy is familiar with electricity, and can perform my job. Is there anything we can do to stop this before someone gets hurt? Sorry this is such a long post.
