The company I work for has just adopted 70E which we're all being tested on. We've gotten a couple of catagory 2 and catagory 4 blast suits with the insulated gloves and sheilds and such.
Originally everyone worked hot without any protection, and now we at least have these suits, so this is a step in the right direction. But the attitude that they've created seems to be something along the lines of "now that we have these suits, we never have to worry about attempting to shut down."
I've heard (mostly on here and other message boards) that OSHA prohibits any work that by defintion doesn't have to be preformed hot (i.e.: anything other than voltage and power testing, etc.) I said this and was told that while I was prohibited from working hot, licensed electricians certainly could.
Both NFPA 70E and CFR 1910 Subsection S seem to say the same thing: "Live parts to which an employee may be exposed shall be deenergized before the employee works on or near them, unless the employer can demonstrate that deenergizing introduces additional or increased hazards or is infeasible due to equipment design or operational limitations."
That doesn't read to me like a prohibition of hot work. That reads to me like a massive loophole to allow hot work. It seems like it just leaves it at the discression of the electrician to decided whether or not shut-down is feasable. If knocking out a lighting circuit puts a group of people in the dark, has that created additional hazards? Is shutdown infeasable because of the lighting circuit layout?
Yes or no, can we or can we not work things hot? This doesn't seem very clear cut at all.
-John
