By Ralph Armstrong
Recently the Cal-OSHA standards board held public hearing pertaining to a couple of issues found in the High Voltage Electrical Safety Orders that cover IBEW 1245 members and the employers who perform this type of work. IBEW 1245 was made aware of these changes last year, was given time to comment and also held some informal discussions related to these changes to the standard. We are in full support of them.
The first one was reviewing the exemption of the digger derrick for the crane standard. A little history on this:
When Federal OSHA implemented the new crane standard, digger derricks were covered under the standard and therefore required operators of that equipment to obtain a crane license before they were allowed to operate that equipment. This was challenged in court and a resolution to this requirement was to exempt that equipment, which was finally added to the Federal standard last year. Cal-OSHA was one of the few states that already had a crane standard in their regulations. However when the Fed standard came out there were some requirements in that standard that were more stringent than what Cal-OSHA had in their regulations.
As Cal-OSHA was working to make changes to their current crane standard to comply with the new Federal Standard the exemption for digger derricks was there; it just had not been made part of the standard at that time and was going through the public comment stages. Local 1245 took part in the advisory council meeting with Cal-OSHA to work on the crane standard and pushed to keep the digger derrick exemption in their new standard, knowing the exemption was under way, which they did.
The recent Public Hearing was to discuss this exemption as well as changes that are made to the Minimum Approach Distances for Qualified Electrical Workers (QEW) that already existed in the Federal standard that didn’t exist in the Cal-OSHA standard. Transient Over voltage studies were added to the High Voltage Electrical Safety Orders (HVESO), which allows utilities to perform their own studies on their system to determine the MAD on a particular transmission line.
The current MAD is a worst case scenario for every line in the country and in most cases is overkill. Most Live Line work procedures today comply with the current MAD’s; however, there seem to be changes to these MAD’s occasionally pushing those distances further and further away. With the adoption of the transient over voltage language in Cal-OSHA’s standard, an engineered study can be performed on a specific transmission line and in most cases would allow the utility to continue using the MAD all their procedures are written to. The other thing that was added was MAD corrections based on altitude which is found in the Federal standard.
Below is a brief communications regarding the Cal-OSHA public hearings.
Public Hearing: No Comments
There were no comments, questions, difficulties or complaints from the regulated public about two proposed safety order revisions, meaning the board is poised to adopt them as soon as its Feb. 20 meeting in Sacramento.
The first revises High Voltage Electrical Safety Orders §§ 2940.2 and .7, and Telecommunication Safety Orders §§8602, 8610, 8611 and 8615. The changes are based on a Fed-OSHA final rule revising the exemption for digger-derrick trucks in the construction standard. These vehicles are used in the electrical and telecommunications industries for auguring holes for poles and handling associated materials. Under the federal changes, they are governed by 29 CFR 1910 subparts R and S.
The board notes that California standards already include a similar exemption, but staff reviewed Title 8 standards to ensure equivalent safety is provided. Staff says the most significant change in the Standards Board proposal is the adoption of a table on minimum approach distances in cases of anticipated over-voltage (voltage spikes), and a table to adjust the minimum approach distances for work locations at higher elevations.
The current standard for clearances, §2940.2, does not have a table for minimum approach distances with a known maximum anticipated transient over-voltage. It also does not have a table for altitude correction.
The approach distances for digger-derrick trucks in the proposal are based on 1910.269, Appendix B. They are calculated to withstand a range of voltage spikes.
The altitude correction factors are necessary so that employers have the correct distances adjusted for higher altitude. Above 3,000 feet, or at mean sea level, approach distances increase due to the conductivity of air at higher altitudes, staff notes. The table has the necessary correction factors. “This will prevent employers failing to consider altitude as a factor that would affect the minimum approach distance,” staff says.
Revisions to §8610 require digger-derricks to be secured from inadvertent movement by using parking brakes, stabilizers and chocking the wheels while on a grade.
Ralph Armstrong is IBEW 1245 Assistant Business Manager for Safety and Outside Construction