N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 12 § 23-1.13

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 15, April 10, 2024

Section 23-1.13 - Electrical hazards

(a) Operations subject to the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission. None of the provisions of this section shall apply to or in connection with operations conducted by employers, owners, contractors and their agents subject to the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission.

(b) General.

(1) Precautions. All power lines and power facilities around or near construction, demolition and excavation sites shall be considered as energized until assurance has been given that they are otherwise by qualified representatives of the owners of such power lines or power facilities.

(2) Determination of voltages. Before work is begun at any construction, demolition or excavation site, the employer shall determine the voltage levels of all energized power lines and power facilities around or near such site. Where two or more voltages are available at a job site, all electrical equipment and circuits shall be appropriately identified. Such identification shall include voltage level and phase.

(3) Investigation and warning. Before work is begun the employer shall ascertain by inquiry or direct observation, or by instruments, whether any part of an electric power circuit, exposed or concealed, is so located that the performance of the work may bring any person, tool or machine into physical or electrical contact therewith. The employer shall post and maintain proper warning signs where such a circuit exists. He shall advise his employees of the locations of such lines, the hazards involved and the protective measures to be taken.

(4) Protection of employees. No employer shall suffer or permit an employee to work in such proximity to any part of an electric power circuit that he may contact such circuit in the course of his work unless the employee is protected against electric shock by de-energizing the circuit and grounding it or by guarding such circuit by effective insulation or other means. In work areas where the exact locations of underground electric power lines are unknown, persons using jack hammers, bars or other hand tools which may contact such power lines shall be provided with insulated protective gloves, body aprons and footwear.

(5) Guarding of switches or other circuit interrupting devices. If protection for employees consists of de-energizing circuits, employers shall cause open switches or other circuit interrupting devices to be guarded against inadvertent closing until such employees are no longer exposed.

(6) Notifying utility company. At least five normal working days before work is begun within 10 feet of any live overhead power line or before any excavation work is performed which might contact or disturb a live underground power line, the employer shall notify in writing the utility whose power line may be affected.

(7) Generators. Portable electric power generators on any construction, demolition or excavation job site shall have the frames and one pole of the electrical outputs grounded.

(8) Defective insulation. Any wiring found to have cracked insulation or insulation deteriorated in any other way shall be immediately removed from service and discarded.

(c) Temporary electric power circuits at construction, demolition or excavation job sites.

(1) Temporary electric wiring.

(i) All temporary wiring shall be supported on proper insulators and not looped over nails or brackets. No bare wires or other unprotected current-carrying parts shall be located within eight feet above any surface where persons may work or pass unless completely guarded by a fence or other barrier.

Exception:Where qualified persons must make adjustments or measurements on an electrical device or circuit.

(ii) Electrical systems and current-carrying equipment shall be properly grounded except as provided for blasting circuits in this Part (rule). Where it is necessary to lay electrical wiring on the ground, such wiring shall be of the weather-proof type and heavy enough to withstand the wear and abuse to which it may be subjected. No conductor shall be used to carry a higher voltage than the manufacturer's rating.

(iii) Elevated power lines shall have sufficient vertical clearance where they cross highways, access roads or areas traveled by trucks, cranes, shovels or other similar equipment. In no case shall such vertical clearance be less than 18 feet.

(iv) Fuses and other automatic cut-outs shall not exceed a size that will cause open circuits at points lower than the carrying capacities of the protected conductors or equipment or their insulation.

(d) High-voltage power circuits (over 300 volts to ground) at construction, demolition and excavation sites.

(1) At any construction, demolition or excavation site where any person or equipment is required to approach nearer than 10 feet to any overhead energized high-voltage power line or power facility, such approach shall not be made unless or until the following procedure has been complied with:

(i) The owner of such power line or power facility shall be notified in writing by the employer that such an approach is to be made.

(ii) In not more than one normal working day following the receipt of such written notice, the owner of the high-voltage power line or power facility shall advise and make recommendations for the procedure to be followed in performing any work nearer than 10 feet to such power line or power facility.

Exception:In an emergency situation involving imminent danger to the life, health or safety of any person the employer is not required to comply with this provision.

(iii) The employer shall follow the procedure recommended by the owner of the high-voltage power line or power facility in performing any work within 10 feet of such power line or power facility.

(2) The procedure outlined in subparagraphs (i), (ii) and (iii), above, shall be followed whenever any excavation work is to be performed in any area where underground high-voltage power circuits are known or expected to exist.

(3) Any equipment used on a construction, demolition or excavation site which could approach nearer than 10 feet of an energized electric power line or power facility, located overhead or underground, shall be effectively grounded as follows:

(i) Any such equipment shall be provided with a permanent clamp or other means for convenient and effective attachment to a grounding conductor.

(ii) The cable connecting the clamp to the ground shall be equivalent to a No. 1 AWG or larger single conductor, extraflexible, rope-stranded copper, with 600-volt covering for abrasive protection, and with terminal parts that insure a proper connection with hand-type screw clamps.

(iii) An effective ground for such equipment shall be one having a measured resistance of 25 ohms or less, or a connection to a continuous underground metallic water piping system.

(4) Any machinery or equipment used on a construction, demolition or excavation site which has a boom or similar moving extension shall be provided with a durable warning sign posted and maintained in such a location as to be clearly visible to the operator of such machinery or equipment from his operating position. Every such warning sign shall bear the following legend in black letters on a yellow background:

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N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 12 § 23-1.13