Electrical Safety Job Hazard Analysis Documentation

This document outlines the requirements for performing a job hazard analysis (JHA) for electrical work, focusing on identifying and mitigating electrical hazards to ensure employee safety. It covers safety-related work practices, training, and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) when working on or near energized electrical equipment.

Scope

This JHA applies to all employees, both qualified and unqualified, who work on, near, or with electrical installations. This includes:

• Premises wiring: Installations of electric conductors and equipment within or on buildings or other structures, and on other premises such as yards, carnival, parking, and other lots, and industrial substations.
• Wiring for connection to supply: Installations of conductors that connect to the supply of electricity.
• Other wiring: Installations of other outside conductors on the premises.
• Optical fiber cable: Installations of optical fiber cable where such installations are made along with electric conductors.

It does not apply to qualified persons working on or directly associated with generation, transmission, and distribution installations used for the generation, control, transformation, transmission, and distribution of electric energy, including communication and metering, located in buildings used for such purposes or located outdoors. [1]

Definitions

• Qualified Person: An individual with training in avoiding the electrical hazards of working on or near exposed energized parts.
• Unqualified Person: An individual with little or no training in avoiding electrical hazards.

General Requirements

Safety-related work practices must be employed to prevent electric shock or other injuries resulting from direct or indirect electrical contacts when working near or on equipment or circuits that are or may be energized. The specific safety-related work practices must be consistent with the nature and extent of the associated electrical hazards. [5]

Deenergizing Equipment

Live parts to which an employee may be exposed must 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. Live parts that operate at less than 50 volts to ground need not be deenergized if there will be no increased exposure to electrical burns or to explosion due to electric arcs. [5]

Increased hazards may include:

• Interruption of life support equipment
• Deactivation of emergency alarm systems
• Shutdown of hazardous location ventilation equipment
• Removal of illumination for an area

Infeasibility examples include:

• Testing of electric circuits that can only be performed with the circuit energized
• Work on circuits that form an integral part of a continuous industrial process in a chemical plant that would otherwise need to be completely shut down in order to permit work on one circuit or piece of equipment

Energized Equipment Work Practices

If exposed live parts are not deenergized, other safety-related work practices must be used to protect employees who may be exposed to the electrical hazards involved. These practices must protect employees against contact with energized circuit parts directly or indirectly. The work practices used must be suitable for the conditions under which the work is to be performed and for the voltage level of the exposed electric conductors or circuit parts. [3]

Lockout/Tagout Procedures

When working on deenergized parts, lockout and tagging procedures must be followed to prevent accidental energization. Conductors and parts of electric equipment that have been deenergized but not locked out or tagged must be treated as energized parts. [3]

Minimum Approach Distances

The employer shall establish minimum approach distances no less than the distances computed by relevant tables for AC and DC systems. For voltages over 72.5 kilovolts, the employer shall determine the maximum anticipated per-unit transient overvoltage, phase-to-ground, through an engineering analysis or assume a maximum anticipated per-unit transient overvoltage, phase-to-ground, in accordance with provided tables. [11] [11]

No employee shall approach or take any conductive object closer to exposed energized parts than the established minimum approach distance, unless: [8]

• The employee is insulated from the energized part (e.g., using rubber insulating gloves and sleeves).
• The energized part is insulated from the employee and any other conductive object.
• The employee is insulated from any other exposed conductive object.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Employees working on or near exposed energized parts must use appropriate PPE, including:

• Rubber insulating gloves and sleeves: Must be used when an employee is working on energized parts and shall be put on and removed in a position where the employee cannot reach into the minimum approach distance.
• Eye protection: Required when installing or removing expulsion-type fuses with one or both terminals energized at more than 300 volts.
• Flame-resistant clothing: The outer layer of clothing worn by an employee must be flame-resistant when the estimated incident heat energy exceeds 2.0 cal/cm2.

Electrical Safety Training

Employees who face a risk of electric shock that is not reduced to a safe level by the electrical installation requirements must be trained. [9]

Training must cover safety-related work practices, and qualified persons must also be trained in: [4]

• The skills and techniques necessary to distinguish exposed live parts from other parts of electric equipment.
• The skills and techniques necessary to determine the nominal voltage of exposed live parts.
• The clearance distances and corresponding voltages to which the qualified person will be exposed.

The training must be of the classroom or on-the-job type, and the degree of training provided must be determined by the risk to the employee. [4]

Table S-4 lists typical occupational categories of employees facing a higher than normal risk of electrical accident and who are required to be trained:

Typical Occupational Categories of Employees Facing a Higher than Normal Risk of Electrical Accident

• Blue collar supervisors
• Electrical and electronic engineers
• Electrical and electronic technicians
• Electricians
• Industrial machine operators
• Material handling equipment operators
• Mechanics and repairers
• Painters
• Riggers and roustabouts
• Stationary engineers
• Welders

Fuse Handling

When an employee must install or remove fuses with one or both terminals energized at more than 300 volts, or with exposed parts energized at more than 50 volts, the employee must use tools or gloves rated for the voltage. When installing or removing expulsion-type fuses with one or both terminals energized at more than 300 volts, the employee must wear eye protection, use a tool rated for the voltage, and be clear of the exhaust path of the fuse barrel. [2]

Working Near Overhead Lines

If work is to be performed near overhead lines, the lines must be deenergized and grounded, or other protective measures must be provided before work is started. If the lines are to be deenergized, arrangements must be made with the person or organization that operates or controls the electric circuits involved to deenergize and ground them. If protective measures, such as guarding, isolating, or insulating, are used, these precautions must prevent employees from contacting such lines directly or indirectly. [10]

Unqualified persons must maintain specific distances from unguarded, energized overhead lines: [10]

• For voltages to ground 50kV or below: 10 ft.
• For voltages to ground over 50kV: 10 ft. plus 0.4 inch for every 1 kV over 50 kV.

Qualified persons must not approach or take any conductive object closer to exposed energized parts than shown in the relevant tables unless specific conditions are met, such as being insulated from the energized part or the energized part being insulated from all other conductive objects. [10]

Electrical Hazard Assessment

Employers must assess the workplace to identify employees exposed to hazards from flames or from electric arcs and make a reasonable estimate of the incident heat energy to which the employee would be exposed. [8] [8]

Table 1 provides task-based examples of exposure assessments. [6]

Table 1-Example Assessments for Various Tasks

Task	Is employee exposed to flame or electric-arc hazard?
Normal operation of enclosed equipment, such as closing or opening a switch. The employer properly installs and maintains enclosed equipment, and there is no evidence of impending failure.	No.
Normal operation of enclosed equipment, such as closing or opening a switch. There is evidence of arcing or overheating	Yes.
Normal operation of enclosed equipment, such as closing or opening a switch. Parts of the equipment are loose or sticking, or the equipment otherwise exhibits signs of lack of maintenance.	Yes.
Servicing electric equipment, such as racking in a circuit breaker or replacing a switch	Yes.
Inspection of electric equipment with exposed energized parts. The employee is not holding conductive objects and remains outside the minimum approach distance established by the employer.	No.
Inspection of electric equipment with exposed energized parts. The employee is holding a conductive object, such as a flashlight, that could fall or otherwise contact energized parts (irrespective of whether the employee maintains the minimum approach distance).	Yes.
Inspection of electric equipment with exposed energized parts. The employee is closer than the minimum approach distance established by the employer (for example, when wearing rubber insulating gloves or rubber insulating gloves and sleeves).	Yes.
Using open flames, for example, in wiping cable splice sleeves	Yes.

Non-Current-Carrying Metal Parts

Non-current-carrying metal parts of equipment or devices, such as transformer cases and circuit-breaker housings, shall be treated as energized at the highest voltage to which these parts are exposed, unless the employer inspects the installation and determines that these parts are grounded before employees begin performing the work. [2]

Opening and Closing Circuits Under Load

Devices used by employees to open circuits under load conditions must be designed to interrupt the current involved, and devices used to close circuits under load conditions must be designed to safely carry the current involved. [2] [2]

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