ECN Forum Forums Safety Discussion and News Occupational Safety Discussion Cord-line GFCI(RCD)

Do you guys use this sort of thing in the US on your Power-tools when working outside?.
Does OSHA require this?, regardless of Double Insulation?.

Mike...
I had a wet/dry shop-vac that had one of those on it, double insulated & all.. But thats the only piece of equiptment I've owned that had a GFCI cord cap on it.... beauty products (hair dryers, curling irons, etc..) seem to be the only thing I've come across that use those consistently..

-Randy

I've seen them advertised, and I've heard OSHA requires it, but I've never seen them widely used, except by carpenters and such who are working outside in the weather - and the temp services we install have them as a requirement. Usually once we're in a house, we're working off of the house panel, with a few 20A temp circuits run to the 1st & 2nd floors.

Randy, Doug,
Over here, where our OSH regulations are pretty similar to yours, require that all portable tools be fed from an RCD (GFCI) supply, on a Construction Site or a place where building work is "happening".
(Yeah Brother!. )
We even have plugs that have an integral RCD in them.

Mike...
On construction sites, typically RCD/GFI protection is via GFI Circuit breakers either at the temp power poles on the site, or in the "spider boxes".. This is common

I thought you were referring to the cord cap designed GFI devices like this..



(from http://www/levitonhelpdesk.com)

-Randy

Yeah Randy,
That's the one!.

If there were carpenters using Skil saws and such in areas where you could "expect moisture to be present" (vague recall of OSHA language), i.e. framing up a house - no sheathing, no roof, inclement weather / puddles, etc., I could understand personal tools having GFCI, especially when working off a generator or non-protected power source.

But shouldn't the GFCI @ the temp service satisfy the requirement for protection?

Once the house is roofed / sheathed (unless you're a plumber cutting charged water/drainage lines w/power tools, or outside with no GFCI protection at the receptacle), doesn't it constitute a dry space?

Does anyone know of a device like the Leviton 6894 pictured above, specifically designed to be added as a cord cap 'in the field', but with a 2 wire (NEMA 1-15) plug?

Thanks

-Jon

Note that when using portable GFCI devices they must be plugged directly into the power supply as the OSHA rules require that extension cords as well as power tools used in construction work must be GFCI protected.
Don

Don,
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be smart here.
But I thought that it would be common-sense to plug it directly into the power supply, after all a GFCI can't protect upstream of itself.
Besides, if you are going to have a fault on a construction site, chances are it will be an extension cord that caused it.