Since the earliest installation of electical power lines, the need to develop comprehensive construction and maintenance work rules was recognized as essential to ensuring lineman safety.

For many decades, few rules existed meeting these requirements in the United States other than the National Electrical Safety Code® (NESC®), which was introduced in August 1914. Higher voltages, customer service continuation, circuit reliability, unacceptable injury, and fatality rates among other factors demanded attention to a protocol for appropriate work rules. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was established in 1970.

August 2014 marks the 100 year anniversary of NESC’s creation, and today the NESC still remains one of the most widely adopted safety codes. Specifying best practices for the safety of electric supply and communication systems such as telephone, cable TV, and railroad signal systems at both public and private utilities, the code has been continually refined and innovated to help protect the public, electrical professionals, equipment, and property. Part of that process is working to harmonize the NESC with the workplace-health and safety regulations issued by OSHA.

How are these work rules evolved and brought to bear in the field to drive the real-world improvements in work procedures that deliver better protection for both utility workers and the public?

Aligning OSHA and NESC Specifications for Worker Safety
The NESC has been in continuous use since its inception 100 years ago. The code sets ground rules for basic provisions that are considered necessary for the safety of employees and the public during installation, operation or maintenance of electric supply, and communication lines and their associated equipment. It applies from inception or receipt from another entity up to the service point where electric energy or communications systems are transferred to a premises wiring system. Most U.S. states have adopted or use the NESC in some manner (some just as a reference or model), and the code is used in about 100 countries around the world.

Since 1972, IEEE has served as the secretariat of the NESC. In September 2014, the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) – the standards and collaborative solutions arm of IEEE, with a portfolio of over 900 active standards and more than 500 standards under development – is scheduled to release a preprint of proposed changes for the 2017 edition of the NESC. This will touch off an eight-month period of open commentary, closing on 1 May 2015, to allow interested parties to review, affirm or suggest additional changes to the code proposals. Additional reviews are scheduled to take place over the next year, leading to a scheduled publication date of 1 August 2016 for the 2017 code.

Among the possible revisions for the next edition of the code will be six new change proposals developed by NESC Subcommittee 8 on Work Rules that are intended to harmonize with new OSHA regulations. OSHA 1910.269 covers the operation and maintenance of electric power generation, control, transformation, transmission, and distribution lines and equipment.¹ The associated NESC change proposals address areas such as:

• Minimum approach distances (MADs) for supply workers in various situations (performing live line work with or without tools, bare hand, rubber glove work etc.)
• Requirements to address reach and extended reach
• MADs for communications workers
• Requirements for fall protection while employees are climbing, transitioning and/or transferring and while in working positions
• Requirements for arc-rated clothing and equipment and minimum necessary protection for a worker’s head, body, hands and feet

The upcoming commentary period on these and other change proposals for the 2017 NESC marks the next phase in a time-tested development process for the long-standing code. The code is a product of an open collaboration among the professionals and industries that it serves through a structured five-year process that is facilitated by the IEEE-SA.

Keeping the Code Current and Relevant

The current, 2012 edition of the code introduced key changes and/ or clarifications around where the NESC applies in relation to:

• National Electrical Code® (NEC)
• Methods for achieving effective grounding connections
• Rules for protecting electrical supply stations from interference by activities outside the stations and for guarding inside the stations
• Requirements for inspections and for facilities to be grounded or insulated
• Underground inspection rules and requirements for direct-buried cables and conduits not part of a conduit system
• Arc ratings for apparel (specifically for exposures of less than 1,000 volts)
• MADs and employee protective grounds

Source: New Brunswick Power
 

With the 2012 NESC’s release, work on the 2017 edition commenced. The procedure for revising the code is straightforward and proven:

• A proposal may be prepared and submitted electronically by any substantially interested person, organization, NESC subcommittee or member of the NESC Committee or its subcommittees.
• NESC subcommittees consider each proposal and endorse them, prepare proposed revisions or additions, refer them to technical working groups for detailed consideration, request coordination with other subcommittees, and/or recommend rejection.
• A preprint of the proposed revisions is published and available at standards.ieee.org/store.
• Proposed revisions and comments are processed for consideration by NESC subcommittees.
• Based upon the subcommittee reports, a draft of the revision of the NESC is distributed to the NESC Committee for approval by a six-week letter ballot and the ANSI Board of Standards Review for concurrent 60-day public review.

For users of the code, the revision process provides an opportunity for the expertise in the real-world field of implementation to help shape the code’s future and ensure that their particular experiences and needs are reflected in upcoming releases. Through constant refinement, the NESC remains a relevant, essential resource that is one of the prime elements in the culture of safety that has grown up around electrical work around the world over the last 100 years.

Contributing to Safety in the Real World
The NESC is not a design specification or instruction manual itself, but its work rules and other safety intelligence is brought to bear in the field in a variety of ways.

Adoption by state legislatures and public service commissions (PSCs) is one primary avenue through which the NESC helps keep linemen, other electrical workers and the public safe. Almost every U.S. state adopts the NESC in whole or part. Some adopt only the code’s construction and maintenance rules, for example; other states do not directly adopt a safety code for utilities but look to the latest edition of the NESC when issues related to its scope present themselves. California, on the other hand, has its own state code but reviews its requirements when the NESC is revised.

The Caribbean islands, U.S. territories and U.S. military bases globally also rely on the NESC, and consulting engineers have leveraged the NESC in bringing electricity to nations through U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) programs in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service. Today, about 100 countries around the world use the NESC in some way – sometimes with modifications to account for local climate anomalies.

Furthermore, the NESC often is an integral element in the holistic safety programs (encompassing safety manuals, ‘tailboard discussions,’ all-hands safety meetings, spot checks to ensure regulations are being followed, apprentice programs, etc.) that utilities typically follow. The commitment to safety that is demonstrated by individual electrical workers is the primary factor in ensuring that the NESC contributes to safety as intended.

Conclusion
The United States’ first electric supply and communications systems were limited to specific towns or regions. Before standardization of clearances of energized parts from public and worker areas, strength of supporting structures, wiring and electrical work methods, etc., electrical workers traveling from one area to the other encountered problems when working with disparate systems. The hazardous environment (for workers and the public alike) led to a congressional mandate for the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), the first secretariat of the NESC, to leverage contemporary engineering theory and generally accepted good industry practices in promulgating national standard practices.

The resulting introduction of the NESC in 1914 helped drive consistency and safety across the design, construction, operation, and use of electric supply and communication installations throughout the United States. Over the years, the NESC’s benefits have been felt by electrical workers and the public in more and more of the world.

During this span, the NESC has continually evolved to remain realistic, practical, and useful with the arrival of new technologies and developments in the industry. The launch of OSHA in 1971 represented one such development, and keeping the code in harmony with OSHA’s work rules is one of the prime, ongoing areas of focus for the NESC’s developers.

One hundred years after the NESC’s inception, the determination to deliver a robust, relevant code contributing to the safety of electrical workers and the public is as strong as ever.
 

About the Author

Jim Tomaseski is Vice-Chair of the NESC® Main Committee, a Member of IEEE and Corporate Director of Safety at PAR Electric.
 

References

¹ http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show-document?p-table=STANDARDS&p-id=9868