What's your take on the NFPA 70E? Do you attempt total compliance? total disregard? or somewhere in between? How would this affect the Industry if OSHA were to adopt this as their standard?

I think 70E would be good for any sparky's library, if even from Yr 1 apprenticeship.

I am pro-safety, yet at the same time, i realize that 'safety' is big biz, and subject to much bias, so I would have to comment, that the deeper one digs into the document, the more beuracratic BS jumps out.

I wish that OSHA would get on with it and adopt 70E complete. They have recognized it as a national consensus standard and stated that they would judge performance in protecting employees against it but they have left a mass of confusion in their wake.

The argument that I had to use was:

1. OSHA required employers to protect employees against ALL hazards on the job.

2. Flash burns from electrical arc are hazardous and therefore must be protected against.

3. OSHA requires a hazard assessment program to determine what PPE is required for all work to be performed.

4. The employer either has to pay someone to come in a determine the available thermal energy available during bolted fault currents and recommend required protection for every possible cabinet that the employee could be burned in

or

Use NFPA 70E as a standard for required PPE and work practices to be met in the workplace.

The argument must have worked because we have ordered $11,000 of PPE for 2 people (hot sticks, grounding cables, insulating mats, flash suits and such) with another $35,000 of specialized tools (we have everything in the plant from 138KV down to 150 VDC)

NFPA 70E is a document that all electricians should be trained in and required to meet. The employer has one question to answer to OSHA if someone gets killed on the job: 'Did you do everything you could to protect that employee?' If the employer can't prove that they did, under the new OSHA rules they might spend some time counting the rivets in their cell.

Mike

After going thru 70E, I found that to purcase all the equipment called for for my small elecrtical co would have cost more than 18 months gross income. Yea safety is big business and with excess beauracy like that, small businesses are forced to 1) ignore OHSA and hope not to get caught,or 2) Get some of the gear as they can afford to and hope nothing goes wrong or 3)get out of the business that needs the gear, or 4) close thier doors.
These beaurocrats and too many others have no cost of business concept. Not all of us business owners are as rich as General Motors

I agree there could be more of a liasion created bettween OHSA and the end applicant, based on more than Scare tactics and/or cost anyalisis vs. benifit from such to employers
(et all) bean counters.

There seems to be very few at a state ,local, or educational level that would carry the federal torch here....

As it stands the majority of whom OSHA laws apply to remain ignorant of them, the efficy of any 'protective' entity needs to justify itself in the trenches, not in some congressional chamber to be real & tangible.

IMHO, they need to make safety easy and desirable to conform to for the grunts ( yeah,like me ok..) all else will come.....

To this end, 70E seems to be a good start, a bare minimum approach can be said of residential needs, with small $$$ investment for PPE.