Marne
and Associates,
Inc.
Experts in Electrical
Code
| NESC® and OSHA
Newsletter |
February 23,
2010 |
Marne and
Associates NESC and OSHA Newsletter addresses
issues relevant to power and communication
utilities.
2012
NESC Proposed Change:
Clearance between street lights and
communication circuits
The change proposals for the 2012 NESC have
been published to gather industry comments.
Comments are due by May 1, 2010.
Change proposal CP3390 applies to NESC Rule
238C and NESC Table 238-2. Currently a
non-grounded street light can be located 20"
above a communicates line per NESC Table 238-2.
Street lights are allowed in the communications
worker safety zone per Rule 238E. The proposed
change was to increase 20" to 40" for
non-grounded street lights.
The code committee rejected the 20" to 40"
change and cited the following reason:
"The change was submitted last cycle and
SC4 believes the present wording is adequate; it
has been the practice of communication workers
to test metallic fixtures and brackets in the
safety work zone prior to working. Communication
workers experience does not support the
change."
OSHA 1910.268 - requires communication
workers to test for voltage as described in OSHA
1910.268(m)(3)(i) (see below).
1910.268(m)(3)(i)...
"Metal power conduit on joint use poles,
exposed vertical power ground wires, and street
light fixtures which are below communications
attachments or less than 20 inches above these
attachments, shall be considered energize and
shall be tested for voltage unless the employee
can visually determine that they are bonded to
the communications suspension strand or cable
sheath."
It is important that communications workers
who work on joint-use power poles have training
in the NESC and OSHA 1910.268. Some power
utilities are now requesting that the
communications companies and contractors working
on joint-use poles provide training
certification in OSHA 1910.268. Marne and
Associates provides the classroom portion of
this training (see the last article of this
newsletter).
Industry comment is needed to review this
proposed change (in this case, rejection of the
proposed change). To get your voice heard, the
first step is to purchase the Preprint Proposals
for the 2012 Edition of the NESC (unfortunately
this document is not available for free). The
second step is to follow the electronic revision
process to submit your comments to the Code
committees.
To order a copy of the Preprint Proposals
for the 2012 Edition of the NESC click
here. We only have one (1) left in
stock!
2012 NESC Proposed
Change:
Underground cable
color coding
The change
proposals for the 2012 NESC have been published
to gather industry comments. Comments are due by
May 1, 2010.
Change
proposal CP3039 applies to NESC Rule 350F. Rule
350F currently requires direct buried jacketed
supply cables to have a "lightning bolt" symbol
on them and direct buried communications cables
to have a "handset" symbol on them. The change
proposal is to add a RECOMMENDATION (see
NESC Rule 015E) to use the American Public
Works Association Color Code for marking if
color coding is used as an additional method of
identifying the cable. The colors being referred
to are the colors that locate companies use when
paining stripes for underground locates which
are red for electric and orange for
telephone-CATV. The title of Section 35 is
being changed from "direct-buried" cable to
"direct-buried cable and cable in duct not part
of a conduit system" in a separate change
proposal.
Industry
comment is needed to review this proposed
change. To get your voice heard, the first step
is to purchase the Preprint Proposals for the
2012 Edition of the NESC (unfortunately this
document is not available for free). The second
step is to follow the electronic revision
process to submit your comments to the Code
committees.
To order a copy of the Preprint Proposals
for the 2012 Edition of the NESC® click
here. We only have one (1) left in
stock!
Training: Understanding
the difference between OSHA 1910.269 and OSHA
1910.268
Marne and Associates offers eLearning
training in both OSHA 1910.269 (for power
workers) and in OSHA 1910.268 (for communication
workers).
Communication workers working on joint-use
poles (poles with power and communications) must
have OSHA 1910.268 training to work in the
communication worker safety zone. Without this
training the communication worker must stay 10'
or more away from the energized power facilities
and probably could not work on a joint-use
pole.
For more information on Marne and
Associates OSHA 1910.269 and OSHA 1910.268 e
Learning courses click
here. |
View a demo
of Marne and Associates OSHA 1910.269 (Power
lineman) or OSHA 1910.268 (Communication
Lineman) eLearning
Course.
NESC LIVE WEBINAR
Our NESC
Live Web Seminar titled, Applying the
National Electrical Safety Code to Day-to-Day
Utility Work starts again in January
2010.
SOFTWARE
|
If you have a question for our newsletter,
please send an email to kirstin@marneassociates.com
with a concise description of your NESC or OSHA
question. We attempt to answer every question
received, but the volume and type of questions
limits us.
Disclaimer:
The content of this newsletter should be
considered general information only. It is not
intended to be consulting engineering advice,
legal advice, or an official interpretation of the
NESC® or OSHA requirements.
Information and
diagrams contained in this document attempt to
show common situation where the 2007 NESC Code
applies. Diagrams and photos are intended to be
used as visual aids to the reader of the Code and
are not intended to be a replacement for the
comprehensive nature of the Code as it is
written.
Any figures and/or photos used in
this document derived from McGraw-Hill's NESC®
Handbook were used with permission from the
publisher, McGraw-Hill Companies,
Inc.
Copyright © 2009 Marne and Associates,
Inc.
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