ROCKVILLE, Md. — The Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA) and the Mechanical Service Contractors of America (MSCA) have revised their Model NFPA 70E Electrical Safety Program for Service to make its contents consistent with recent revisions to the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace (NFPA 70E - 2015). The model program outlines electrical safety procedures for those who work on HVAC equipment pushing 480 volts or less.

“The program is based largely on information from NFPA 70E - 2015, Article 130 - Work Involving Electrical Hazards and includes some key changes from the 2012 version of the standard,” said Tom Skaggs, chairman of MCAA’s Safety and Health Committee and vice president - safety for the Murphy Co.

A key change in the new version of the NFPA 70E requirements affects service technicians who perform specific tasks on the control voltage side of equipment. Those technicians will be able to perform those tasks with substantially less personal protective equipment (PPE) than was required under the 2012 standard, once certain conditions are met. The new standard requires separate risk assessments for arc flash risk and electrical shock risk, and those assessments must show that the complete array of Category 2 PPE is not necessary for worker protection before the service technician can omit the PPE specified by the risk assessments.

The revised Model NFPA 70E Electrical Safety Program for Service is now available from MCAA's Bookstore. MCAA and MSCA members may download the publication at no charge. For non-members the cost is $75.

Publication date: 5/25/2015

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