OSHA 1926 Safety and Health Standards for Construction

This standard provides safe operating practices for high voltage and high power testing performed in laboratories, shops and substations, and in the field and on electrical transmission and distribution lines and equipment. It applies only to tests involving intermediate measurements using high voltage, high power, or a combination of high voltage and high power, and does not apply to tests involving continuous measurements as in routine measurement, relay and normal line operation.

OSHA Standard 1926 General Requirements

Safe Working Practices

The employer shall establish and implement work practices to protect each worker, temporarily and permanently, from the hazards of high voltage or high power testing at all test sites. Such work practices shall, as a minimum, include a means of ensuring test site safety, grounding, safe use of measurement and control circuits, and periodic safety checks of field test sites.

Training:

The employer shall ensure that each employee receives training in safe working practices, along with retraining in accordance with § 1926.950(b) after initial assignment to the test site.

Protection of Test Sites

The employer must provide protection within test areas to control access to test equipment or apparatus under test that may be energized as part of the test, either by direct or inductive coupling, and to prevent accidental contact of workers with energized parts.

Permanent test sites The Employer shall protect permanent test sites with walls, fences or other barriers designed to keep workers out of the test areas.

Temporary test areas, For field testing or in a temporary test area not protected by permanent fences and gates, to prevent employer unauthorized workers from entering, Supported at waist level, with safety signs affixed, distinctively colored security tape One or more of the test observer methods to monitor the entire area will enable its use.

Removing Protections

The employer will ensure that the requested safeguards are removed when the workers no longer need the protection provided by the assurances.

Grounding Applications

The employer will establish and enforce safe grounding practices for the test facility. The employer shall keep all conductive parts accessible to the test operator at ground potential when the equipment is operating at high voltage.

Installation of Floors

The employer must ensure that visible grounds are applied automatically or that workers using suitably insulated tools manually apply visible grounds to the high-voltage circuits after the high-voltage circuits are de-energized and before any worker performs work on the circuit or on the material or apparatus. Scale. Common ground connections shall be securely connected to the test equipment and apparatus under test.

Isolated Ground Return

In high power testing, the employer must provide an insulated earth-to-return conductor system designed to prevent the deliberate crossing of current in the earth network or earth with a voltage rise.

Equipment Grounding Conductors

For tests where the use of the equipment grounding conductor in the equipment power cord to ground test equipment would result in greater hazards to test personnel or prevent satisfactory measurements from being made, the employer may use a grounding expressly specified in the test setup in the following cases. the employer can demonstrate that this grounding provides protection for workers equivalent to that provided by an equipment grounding conductor in the power supply cord.

Grounding After Tests

The employer must ensure that a ground is provided on the high voltage terminal and other exposed terminals whenever any worker enters the test area after the equipment has been de-energized. The employer must ensure that a ground is provided on the high voltage terminal and other exposed terminals whenever any worker enters the test area after the equipment has been de-energized. After the stored energy has dropped to a safe level, a direct ground will be applied to the exposed terminals.

Grounding Test Tools

If the employer uses a test trailer or test vehicle for field testing, its chassis will be grounded. The employer must protect each worker against dangerous touching potentials by bonding, sealing or insulating the vehicle, instrument panels and other conductive parts within the reach of workers.

Security check

Prior to each test, safety practices for workers working at temporary or field test sites should provide for a routine security check of such test sites at the beginning of each series of tests. The responsible test operator will perform these routine safety checks prior to each series of tests, and at least the barriers and safety measures are operational and properly located to isolate hazardous areas, system test status signals are operational if used, clearly marked test power outages, in an emergency is ready, ground connections are clearly identifiable, Personal protective equipment, and used, and will verify runs if the signal is in a state of proper separation between ground and power cables.

Eurolab provides companies with safe working practices for high voltage and high power testing under the OSHA 1926 Safety and Health Standards for Construction. We welcome you to our laboratory.