For the past two years, NFPA LiNK® has provided professionals with an interactive digital alternative to hardcopy codebooks, offering access to NFPA® codes and standards on the user’s favorite device. On May 15, NFPA LiNK will be adding 25 additional codes and standards within the organization’s vast scope of publications, including the latest edition of NFPA 70E®, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace®. For those unfamiliar with NFPA 70E, this standard establishes requirements for safe work practices to protect personnel by reducing exposure to major electrical hazards. NFPA 70E helps companies and employees avoid workplace injuries and fatalities due to shock, electrocution, arc flash, and arc blast, and assists in complying with OSHA regulations. Along with the National Electrical Code® and NFPA 70B, Standard for Electrical Equipment Maintenance, NFPA 70E aids professionals across the globe in maintaining electrical safety. In addition to the 2024 edition of NFPA 70E, new editions of 24 other NFPA documents will publish in NFPA LiNK on the 15th, including: ·       NFPA 30, Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code ·       NFPA 96, Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations ·       NFPA 90A, Standard for the Installation of Air-Conditioning and Ventilating Systems ·       NFPA 556, Guide on Methods for Evaluating Fire Hazard to Occupants of Passenger Road Vehicles ·       NFPA 820, Standard for Fire Protection in Wastewater Treatment and Collection Facilities With staffing shortages plaguing the industry and valuable time at all-time low, all workers in the electrical, fire, and life safety space need to be able to readily access the most up-to-date codes and standards. No longer can individuals rely on a single team member to carry a codebook holding valuable notes in its margins and earmarks on commonly cited pages. It’s more important than ever for stakeholders to collaborate, share resources, and plan accordingly while in the design and build process. Innovative resources like NFPA LiNK are at the heart of enabling this productive way of work, offering: ·       Notetaking features for individuals to add personal notes and collaborate with others, share code sections, and work across teams ·       Interactive Change Indicators that make it easier to identify and understand changes and deletions made from edition to edition ·       Bookmarks to save custom collections for quick and easy reference ·       Navigation tools that enable users to bookmark text and quickly locate information ·       NFPA DiRECT®, a situational navigation tool to help professionals identify codes related to the unique projects they encounter Interested in learning more? NFPA recently debuted a supplementary NFPA LiNK YouTube channel, complementing the platform by providing users with tutorials and quick-start video guides for optimizing NFPA LiNK, as well as content discussing industry-specific codes, classifications, and requirements for electrical, fire, and life safety. For more information about NFPA LiNK, or to sign up for a free trial, visit nfpa.org/LiNK.

To assist all employers in reducing, if not eliminating, workplace electrical injuries and fatalities, I decided to investigate how far electrical safety has progressed over the last 40 years. Information from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) database has been used for 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020. This will be a multipart blog series investigating different aspects of electrical injuries and fatalities. There were 7,405 fatal injuries in the workplace in 1980, and 4,764 in 2020 (a Covid year with significantly fewer fatalities than the previous years). For comparison, excluding 2020, there has been an average of 5,222 fatalities since 2015. It is encouraging that progress has been made in all causes of workplace fatalities, but how is protecting employees from electrical hazards working out? Electrocution was the fifth-leading cause of death in the workplace by the end of the 1970s; there were approximately 600 electrocutions annually at the time, accounting for about 8% of all workplace fatalities. The first edition of NFPA 70E®, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace®, was issued in 1979 to address those fatalities. What has happened since? Drum roll please … Exposure to electricity is no longer a stand-alone leading cause of workplace fatalities. It is included in a group of exposures to harmful substances or environments that together are currently the sixth-leading cause of fatalities—a vast improvement since NFPA 70E began addressing electrical safety. RELATED: The 2024 edition of NFPA 70E is due out soon. Learn more. It is amazing that in the 1970s exposure to electricity alone caused nearly as many deaths (about 600) as this entire exposure group now does (672 in 2020). Unfortunately, of the named harmful substances or environments, exposure to electricity is the leading cause of fatalities by a factor of 2 and accounts for one-fifth of all these 2020 exposure fatalities. In addition, exposure to electricity is once again on OSHA’s “Fatal Four” for the construction industry. The chart below shows the decrease in exposure to electricity fatalities and injuries (no 1980 online data for injuries) at the end of each decade. Great strides have been made, but there are still some areas where electrical safety can improve. Exposure to electricity fatalities were nearly halved from 582 to 310 in the decade after NFPA 70E was first issued. It took two more decades to halve the fatalities from 310 to 164. Although there were 126 fatalities in 2020, exposure to electricity fatalities has stagnated at around 150 over the last decade. As a percentage of all workplace fatalities, exposure to electricity fatalities has decreased from 8% in 1980 to 3% in 2020. Electrical injuries requiring time away from work have nearly been cut in half (4,806 to 2,380) since 1990. These are good signs that employers have embraced protecting all employees in all workplaces from electrical hazards. The bad news is that, in 2020, 2,380 employees just missed becoming a fatality by dumb luck. Vast improvements in electrical safety have been made in all occupations, but any fatality or injury is cause for further refinement. No employer should be satisfied with an employee electrical injury. Workplace fatalities due to exposure to electricity are preventable. It may seem difficult to further reduce the number of fatalities, but it is easier than it seems. There are four things that an employer can do. First, properly install and maintain equipment so that not only your employees but also groundskeepers, contract workers, painters, and plumbers are protected from electrical hazards whenever they are near or interacting with your electrical equipment. Second, train your employees to recognize and avoid electrical hazards wherever their work environment may be. Third, create or improve your electrical safety program and follow it. The last thing only takes a second because it is simply a matter of flipping a switch to save someone’s life before they might be exposed to an electrical hazard. The use of the most up-to-date edition of NFPA 70E is a key component to establishing electrical safety in the workplace. The 2024 edition of the standard is due out next month. The digital version of the new edition will also be added to NFPA LiNK® next week; visit nfpa.org/LiNK to learn more.

Each May provides an opportunity to highlight how we can safely work with electricity. National Electrical Safety Month is an annual campaign spearheaded by Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI), which aims to educate people on how to reduce the number of electrical fires, fatalities, injuries, and associated property loss. The theme of this year’s campaign is “Electrification: E-Mobility.” While there is no shortage of stories about electric vehicle (EV) and e-bike incidents in the news, the reality is that it is also a topic many Americans do not know a lot about. And with a lack of knowledge often comes a lack of safety. Many of the reported incidents likely could have been prevented had individuals been more aware of unsafe practices when using these products. This year’s National Electrical Safety Month campaign addressing e-mobility safety provides a great opportunity to spread more safety awareness in this area, and NFPA® has many resources to help accomplish this goal.   E-bikes: The news story vs the full picture   Electromobility, also known as e-mobility, uses specific technologies, such as lithium-ion batteries, to provide electric propulsion of electric vehicles, e-bikes, and various other means of mobile transportation. Incidents involving e-bikes are regularly in the news and a high concentration of those happen to be in New York City, an area with a dense population and significant use of e-bikes for delivery jobs and general travel around the city. What often gets relayed as part of the newscast is a description of the incident itself and a connection to the lithium-ion batteries that propel these e-bikes. What isn’t always communicated is the human factor that can lead to many of these incidents and, more importantly, ways in which individuals can begin to safely charge and utilize e-bikes to prevent further incidents.   As of early April, New York City had reported 59 total e-bike–related fires this year, 5 of which had been fatal. To add perspective, there were 6 total fatalities due to e-bike–related fires in all of 2022. One recent incident involved two youths that perished because an e-bike was being charged near the building entrance, and when a fire involving the device erupted, the exit was blocked.   Since the onset of these tragic e-bike events, NFPA has been proactive in trying to educate e-bike users to ensure that they know the best ways to utilize these products in a manner that maintains their personal safety, as well as the safety of others. In fact, NFPA put together a webpage with safety information around e-bikes and e-scooters to help spread awareness. Watch a related video about e-bike and e-scooter fire safety from NFPA Journal®.   Here, individuals can find great resources such as answers to frequently asked questions, videos, and a downloadable e-bike safety tip sheet that is available in both English and Spanish. NFPA staff are also working to be safety advocates by spreading messaging around the lithium-ion batteries that power most e-bikes. At a recent NFPA staff event, a panel of several staff members who specialize in fire protection, electrical safety, and research discussed recent incidents and the safe use of lithium-ion batteries. Many in the audience expressed that they learned something valuable about how to be safer when charging their personal lithium-ion powered devices. NFPA technical services engineer Brian O’Connor also provided a recent interview to CBS News New York to help spread the word to the public on how e-bike lithium-ion batteries work and the safety precautions that users should take.     EVs: Building a safe charging infrastructure   Electric vehicles (EVs) are another means of e-mobility transportation that are very much in the public spotlight. There is a clear shift taking place among major automotive manufacturers worldwide from production of vehicles with internal combustion engines to electric vehicles. There are also significant financial investments being made by the government to build an electrical charging infrastructure that can support the increase in the number of EVs that are projected to reach the pavement in the near future.   A primary step in bettering the EV charging infrastructure happens when it is initially built. But another key component that shouldn’t be overlooked is the continued maintenance of the charging infrastructure.  Both the initial installation and continued maintenance are areas where NFPA is able to help ensure safety. Article 625 in the National Electrical Code® (NEC®) provides requirements that will help to ensure a safe electrical vehicle charging installation. Some of the requirements revolve around a personal protection system, properly sizing branch circuits that power the EV charger, and utilizing ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) protection for receptacles that power EV chargers.     RELATED: NFPA also has resources to help firefighters train for responding to incidents involving electric vehicles. Learn more at nfpa.org/ev.   From a maintenance standpoint, Chapter 33 of NFPA 70B, Standard for Electrical Equipment Maintenance, addresses electric vehicle charging systems. Within this chapter, users can find information on the necessary frequency and documentation of maintenance and the procedures that should be taken when maintenance is performed. With NFPA 70B changing from a recommended practice to a standard in January of 2023, governments and municipalities now have the ability to enforce the maintenance requirements of NFPA 70B regarding the electrical charging infrastructure being installed within their particular areas. With the high level of use that EV chargers will see on a daily basis, continued maintenance will be paramount to ensuring that EV chargers remain safe for consumers to use.   Embracing the electric future   Since the beginning of human history, there has been a constant development of new technologies that drive our means of travel—for example, shoes (7th millennium BC), the domestication of the horse and invention of the wheel (3500 BC), the bicycle (1816), and the Ford Model T automobile (1908). These were all significant developments in means of travel that we still use today.   Although electric vehicles are at the forefront of developing travel technologies today, using electricity for powering means of transportation actually dates back to the early 19th century, when using electricity to power locomotives and boats was being explored. Continued technological advancements over time, such as the development of lithium-ion batteries, has provided an opportunity to explore new transportation options within the e-mobility realm. While the advancements in the technologies used for transportation have a wide variance over time, one commonality is that, in all applications of those technologies, there was a learning curve that had to be overcome to utilize the new technology safely.   “ We are still learning how to use e-mobility products like e-bikes and EVs safely. ... It is important that we all continue to gain knowledge around how to safely use them and then continue to share that knowledge with others.     It is hard to imagine that it took very long after the wheel was invented to determine it was a bad idea to leave your foot under it while it was rolling. This may sound like a silly example because it seems just common sense to us nowadays, but someone had to learn the danger from trial and error and then share their findings with others so that they didn’t make the same mistake. In that same regard, we are still learning how to use e-mobility products like e-bikes and EVs safely.   The reality is we often fear most that which we do not understand. As we work through determining how best to incorporate these e-mobility products into our everyday lives, it is important that we all continue to gain knowledge around how to safely use them and then continue to share that knowledge with others. National Electrical Safety Month is a great opportunity for all of us to start doing just that.          For quick tips on how to use e-mobility devices more safely, please consider downloading the NFPA E-bike and E-scooter Safety tip sheet in English or Spanish, as well as our Lithium-Ion Battery Safety sheet.  

Some people may not consider Article 90 of NFPA 70®, National Electrical Code® (NEC®), to be a backbone of electrical inspector knowledge. But a familiarity with Article 90 is crucial for electrical inspectors. The sections found within Article 90 provide a comprehensive overview of when the NEC applies and when it doesn’t, how the code is arranged, and how enforcement works—all information that is valuable to any electrical inspector. In this blog, we’ll go over some of the information in Article 90 that is important for electrical inspectors to know. What does the NEC cover? Section 90.2(C) lists areas covered by the NEC, and they are: 1.     Public and private premises, including buildings, structures, mobile homes, recreational vehicles, and floating buildings 2.     Yards, lots, parking lots, carnivals, and industrial substations 3.     Installation of conductors and equipment connecting to the supply of electricity 4.     Installations used by electric utility, such as office buildings, warehouses, garages, machine shops, and recreational buildings, that are not an integral part of a generating plant, substation, or control center 5.     Installations supplying shore power to ships and watercraft in marinas and boatyards, including monitoring of leakage current 6.     Installations used to export power from vehicles to premises wiring or for bidirectional current flow As you can see, the NEC addresses installations and methods of accomplishing those installations in its areas of coverage. The fifth item was added in the 2020 edition of the NEC to address installations of shore power and associated receptacles in marinas and boatyards, which may help lower the risk of exposure to electric shock drowning (ESD) through specific changes made in Article 555. The sixth item was also added in the 2020 NEC to deal with new technology around electric vehicles (EVs) and their ability to provide power to premises electrical systems through the EV charging equipment. The changes are reflected in Article 625. What doesn’t the NEC cover? Just as important as knowing what the NEC covers is knowing what it doesn’t. Section 90.2(D) lists the areas that are not under the purview of the NEC, which helps electrical inspectors navigate the out-of-bounds line. This is not to say there are no electrical inspections happening in those areas—just that if there are any, they are likely done using a code or standard other than the NEC for determining compliance. For example, utility-owned service or transmission line installations are covered by the National Electrical Safety Code (NESC) and not the NEC. How is the NEC arranged? The NEC arrangement is outlined in Section 90.3. The NEC is organized so that the requirements found in Chapters 1 through 4 apply generally to all electrical installations referenced in the code, except those referenced in Chapter 8, where the code language must have specific references to the first four chapters. This arrangement helps consolidate general requirements into a few chapters so that they’re not repeated elsewhere in the NEC, which makes it easier for electrical inspectors and installers to locate. Enforcement Information for electrical inspectors around enforcement, interpretations, specific requirements, and what to do with new products, constructions, or materials is found in Section 90.4. According to 90.4(A), the NEC is suitable for mandatory application by governmental bodies that have legal jurisdiction of electrical installations. These bodies are usually state, county, or city governments that incorporate the NEC by reference into their rules or laws. In most instances, electrical inspectors must be working under the authority of an enforcing agency or for an authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) to have any enforcement powers over permitted electrical installations within those jurisdictional boundaries. AHJs have the responsibility for making interpretations of the rules and for deciding on the approval or rejection of equipment or materials used in electrical installations. They may also grant special permission in certain circumstances as they deem necessary. There are two types of rules in the NEC: mandatory and permissive. They are expressed very differently. Mandatory rules are the shall or shall not rules. For example, a mandatory rule would be “the electrical connection of conductors to terminal parts shall ensure a mechanically secure connection without damaging the conductors,” whereas a permissive rule would be “reconditioned equipment shall be permitted except where prohibited elsewhere in the NEC.” As a former AHJ, I frequently would tell electrical inspectors that the code isn’t what you THINK it says; it is what it SAYS it is, so go read the code section before writing a violation or approving an installation. Understanding the difference between mandatory and permissive rules can help the enforcer-installer relationship by having a more accurate inspection. Where to go for more information Electrical inspectors, you are not alone in what you do. NFPA® has an Electrical Inspection Section membership just for you, where you can network with other electrical inspector members. Inspectors can share ideas, talk code, and collaborate on interpretations of the code through NFPA XchangeTM. Having these tools will help create a more consistent enforcement of the NEC.

NFPA 70E®, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace® Section 110.5(M)(1) requires auditing of your electrical safety program (ESP) to determine if the ESP continues to comply with current NFPA 70E requirements. Section 110.5(F) requires that the ESP identify the controls by which it is measured and monitored. Electrically safety in the workplace will stagnate without this step where improvements for safety are implemented. Controls are the electrical safety metrics for determining if an ESP is effective and efficient. To evaluate a system, you need to know where you started and how far you have come. Controls must be both measurable and actionable. Metrics are measurable points to determine performance. They are used to determine if improvements to the safety program are required and, if so, what needs to be changed. NFPA 70E requires controls but it is the documented ESP that details what they are and how they are used. It is necessary to identify who is responsible for analyzing the data and incorporating necessary changes. There are two common metrics used to determine the effectiveness of something: lagging and leading. Lagging metrics provide a reactive view of an ESP. Lagging metrics might include the time lost to injuries, the money spent on worker compensation, or the amount of training an employee has received. Under this metric, an injury occurs, and the ESP is changed to address it. A shock is reported, and a change is made. Leading metrics identify and correct contributing factors before an incident occurs. Leading metrics might include the number of hazards identified and eliminated, the reduction in the number of authorized energized work permits, or the number of work procedures altered for de-energized work. Under this metric, a decrease in electricity injuries might be evident after hazard elimination was instituted or after every employee had been trained on the proper use of with extension cords. A combination of these metrics can enhance a safe work program. The next step is determining where further improvements could be made to the system. The ESP must detail what controls are implemented, how they are evaluated, how data is collected, how changes are incorporated, and who is responsible for maintaining the control system. The process should address how much change may occur at one time. Incremental steps are easier to monitor than whole scale changes. If the system heads in the wrong direction it is easier to correct its course, then try something else. Make sure that your ESP has appropriate controls to keep electrical safety progressing in your workplace. This concludes the 12-part series on an ESP. NFPA 70E requirements cannot be used as appropriate procedures or for training for any specific task. A well-developed ESP is critical to achieving electrical safety in the workplace as well as for complying with NFPA 70E and OSHA regulations. Without it there are no policies and procedures available for employee training and there can be no qualified persons without proper training. Review your ESP to make sure all requirements and safety issues are properly addressed.

January 2023 was a significant month in the evolution of NFPA 70B as it transitioned from the Recommended Practice for Electrical Equipment Maintenance to the Standard for Electrical Equipment Maintenance. Issued by the NFPA® Standards Council on December 27, 2022, the 2023 edition of NFPA 70B, Standard for Electrical Equipment Maintenance, became effective on January 16, 2023, when it was approved as an American National Standard by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).   It has been 50 years since the first version of NFPA 70B was issued in 1973 as a recommended practice, which provided recommendations on what should be done. Now, the move to a standard provides more enforceability for what must be done when it comes to electrical equipment maintenance. That is a win-win for both the reliability of electrical equipment and the overall safety of the electrical systems and those individuals tasked with working on them.     Why is electrical equipment maintenance important?   Unexpected shutdowns can be detrimental to companies, yet they happen every day due to equipment failure. Just as vehicles require regular upkeep to remain reliable as usage and aging persist, maintenance is also vital for electrical systems to stay dependable when they are needed.   Even more critical than the safety of the electrical system itself is the safety of those responsible for working on those systems. Equipment can be replaced; lives cannot. In part, the defined purpose of NFPA 70B is “to provide for the practical safeguarding of persons, property, and processes from the risks associated with failure, breakdown, or malfunction” of electrical equipment. An additional part of the scope also serves to provide “a means to establish a condition of maintenance of electrical equipment and systems for safety and reliability.”   A key term within the defined purpose of NFPA 70B is condition of maintenance. If you work regularly with electrical codes and standards, that term may be familiar to you. According to a quick search using NFPA LiNK®, the term condition of maintenance is used 59 times in the 2023 edition of NFPA 70®, National Electrical Code® (NEC®), and six times in the 2021 edition of NFPA 70E®, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace®.   While the term is mentioned fewer times in NFPA 70E, establishing a condition of maintenance is paramount in being able to accomplish the requirements outlined within the pages of the document to help keep workers safe. As an example, NFPA 70E, Section 110.5(A), requires employers to implement and document an electrical safety program (ESP) that directs activity appropriate to the risk associated with electrical hazards. Additionally, the ESP is required to include elements that consider the condition of maintenance of electrical equipment and systems.   Without question, electrical equipment that has not been maintained properly or is not functioning properly poses a significant additional risk to those who are working on that equipment and its associated systems. NFPA 70E states that we must address and consider conditions of maintenance for applications—for example, estimating the likelihood of severity in both shock risk and arc flash risk assessments.   NFPA 70B is the standard that can now be both utilized and enforced, to ensure that the proper conditions of maintenance have been established.     Along with NFPA 70B and NFPA 70E, it is also important to keep in mind that the NEC is an important part of this conversation. A code-compliant installation that has been designed, installed, and inspected in accordance with NEC requirements is foundational in being able to incorporate the other standards. Once installation has taken place, NFPA 70B can assist in the maintenance aspect, while NFPA 70E can provide the work practices necessary to keep employees safe, while also meeting Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements. The NEC, NFPA 70B, and NFPA 70E all become critical components, one just as important as the others, in order to achieve the electrical cycle of safety.   While it may take some time for jurisdictions to determine how to best utilize and enforce NFPA 70B, the NFPA Standards Council’s recent decision to make the document a standard opens the door to that possibility. Because proper maintenance is critical to achieving reliability and safety of electrical equipment and systems—and, more importantly, the safety of workers that interact with them—it is well worth the effort to enforce NFPA 70B as a standard, making it another tool to assist in achieving overall electrical safety in the world.   Find out more information and gain free access to the standard by visiting the NFPA 70B  document information page.