Work Practices Related to Exposed De-Energized Parts

Certain work practices apply specifically to work performed on exposed de-energized parts or near enough to them to expose the employee to any electrical hazard they present. The employer must maintain a written copy of the procedures for working on or near exposed de-energized parts and must make it available for inspection by employees and by the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.

A lock and a tag must be placed on each disconnecting means used to de-energize circuits and equipment on which work is to be performed to prevent people from operating the disconnecting means. Each tag must contain a statement prohibiting unauthorized operation of the disconnecting means and removal of the tag. Conductors and parts of electrical equipment that have been de-energized but have not been locked out or tagged must be treated as energized parts. Whenever any employee is exposed to contact with parts of fixed electrical equipment or circuits that have been de-energized, the circuits energizing the parts must be locked out or tagged.

Before any circuits or equipment can be considered and worked as de-energized, the de-energized condition must be verified in the following ways.

• A qualified person must operate the equipment operating controls or otherwise verify that the equipment cannot be restarted.
• A qualified person must test the circuit elements and electrical parts of the equipment to which employees will be exposed and verify that the circuit elements and equipment parts are de-energized.

If it is determined that there will be no increased exposure to electrical burns or to explosion due to electric arcs, energized electrical conductors and circuit parts that operate at less than 50 volts are not required to be de-energized where the capacity of the source and any overcurrent protection between the energy source and the worker are evaluated.

To learn more about Electrical Safety visit our Electrical Safety Online Training web page.