OSHA Revises Standards for Line Work and Electrical Protective Equipment

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on Tuesday issued a final rule that revises a 42-year-old construction standard for electric power line work to make it more consistent with general industry standards. 

The final rule, which is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on April 11 and becomes effective 90 days after that, also revises general industry and construction standards for electrical protective equipment.

The updated standards for general industry and construction include new or revised provisions for host and contract employers to share safety-related information with each other and with employees, as well as for improved fall protection for employees working from aerial lifts and on overhead line structures. In addition, the standards adopt revised approach-distance requirements to better ensure that unprotected workers do not get dangerously close to energized lines and equipment. The final rule also adds new requirements to protect workers from electric arcs.

The new standard for electrical protective equipment applies to all construction work and replaces the existing construction standard, which was based on out-of-date information, with a set of performance-oriented requirements consistent with the latest revisions of the relevant consensus standards. The new standards address the safe use and care of electrical protective equipment, including new requirements that equipment made of materials other than rubber provide adequate protection from electrical hazards.

“This long-overdue update will save nearly 20 lives and prevent 118 serious injuries annually,” said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. “Electric utilities, electrical contractors and labor organizations have persistently championed these much-needed measures to better protect the men and women who work on or near electrical power lines.”

OSHA said the final rule will result in estimated monetized benefits of $179 million annually, with net benefits equal to about $130 million annually.

—Sonal Patel, associate editor (@POWERmagazine, @sonalcpatel)