Permission to work in electrical installations is necessary so that the qualification of the master corresponds to the work performed. The consequences of non-compliance are very sad, and therefore employers are required to monitor the implementation of this paragraph. So, where does access to work in electrical installations begin?
What regulates the issue?
Admission to work with electrical installations is determined by the Rules on labor protection and operation of electrical installations. They were approved by order of the Ministry of Labor in 2013 and are still valid.
The rules spell out an algorithm for admitting to work in electrical installations both full-time employees and business travelers.
The employer must familiarize all employees with the safety rules with a signature. The new edition was introduced in order to minimize risks for employees.
What changes have been made?
In order for the admission to work in electrical installations to comply with the rules, you need to obtain an admission outfit. Only with this document on hand can you carry out your activities. It was this moment that became key in changing the Rules.
And also made some changes to the order of admission, the preparation of the place of work and the qualifications of both the manufacturer and the admitting one. Let's talk about each moment in more detail.
Workplace preparation
Before starting work, you need to tidy up the workplace. What does it mean? It is necessary to carry out some technical measures, without which it is impossible to start work. These include:
- Making the necessary outages and taking other measures that will interfere with the supply of voltage to the place of work, if suddenly the switching devices turn on themselves or are mistakenly activated.
- On the keys of the remote device or the drives of the manual switching device must be hung posters that prohibit the inclusion of the device.
- The absence of voltage on live parts grounded to protect people from current has been checked.
- Grounding. In this case, grounding knives should be included or portable grounding should be installed.
- Hanging posters that say that the structure is grounded. If necessary, workstations and live parts that have not been relieved of voltage must be enclosed. In all cases, warning posters should be posted.
If all these measures are completed, then the preparation of the place of work is considered complete. Further, personal protective equipment is checked.
Means of protection
The admission order for work in electrical installations will not be given until they are convinced that all employees have personal protective equipment. Among them:
- Heat-resistant suit, which happens in the summer or winter version.
- Leather shoes that have a gas and oil resistant sole.
- Cotton underwear. It is put on under overalls.
- Heat resistant gloves. They are worn under dielectric gloves in order to protect hands from the heat of an electric arc.
- Heat-resistant comforter. It is worn under a helmet and has the same functions as gloves.
- Refractory helmet with a protective shield.
Protective equipment must be worn fully, otherwise the risk of an accident during work increases.
In addition to the above tools, electricians are issued:
- Index of high voltage UVN-10.
- Dielectric gloves.
- PIN-90 low voltage indicator.
All means must be intact and suitable for use. In confirmation of this, they are stamped after passing the test.
Primary admission
How is the initial admission of workers to work in electrical installations? The primary tolerance is the one when electricians conduct work on the structure for the first time.
In order to start an activity, it is necessary to obtain a work permit. This is the name of the task for the production of work, which is framed on a specific form. This form has the established form and defines the content, the time of commencement and completion of work, the place, the composition of employees and the team, the conditions for safe conduct, those responsible for safe activities.
How is an outfit registered?
Before starting work, the approver must register a new work permit for work in electrical installations. The document is assigned a number by which it is entered in the accounting journal of work on orders.
In addition to the number, the place of work, the name of the work, the date of completion and beginning of activity are indicated in the register.
When a permit order is received, the permitter is required to obtain permission for admission from senior operational personnel who control the electrical equipment.
That is, to prepare a workplace and admit a brigade is possible only when permission has already been issued. It is issued not only by senior operational personnel, but also by an authorized employee of the enterprise, for example, a shift foreman of the operational service or senior master.
Admission may be granted orally or by telephone. After the approval was given for admission to independent work in the electrical installation, the corresponding chapter is filled in the outfit. The data of the employee who authorized the work, his position, time and date of issue of the permit shall be indicated. In addition, you must specify information about the employees who will carry out activities on the site.
Inspection of the place of work
Before admitting the brigade, the one who is obliged to check the records of the operational log and the status of the operational circuit on the dispatcher’s panel with a mnemonic diagram If everything complies with the norm, then the approver is obliged to check the workplace for compliance with preparedness for the work performed.
The admitting person must personally verify that all preparation activities have been followed. And also compare the actual work done with entries in the reporting journal.
If there are doubts that the measures have been completed in full or in proper form, then the admission is quickly terminated. After eliminating the shortcomings, a new work permit is issued for work in electrical installations. This is due to the fact that under the law it is impossible to make changes or corrections to existing orders.
In the case of complete preparation of the workplace and the absence of doubts about the safety of work, the admitter indicates in the order that the workplace is prepared. It also indicates which objects remained energized.
Checking the workplace by an authorized and responsible manager
The manager, who is responsible for carrying out the work, together with the approving one, checks whether the workplace is prepared. If all the points are observed, they put signatures on the outfit.
Next, the composition of the team is checked. It must correspond to the issued form of work permits for work in electrical installations. And also the responsible person is obliged to check with all members of the brigade certificates, in which the appropriate admission group should be indicated.
Each electrician is required to have a certificate with him. In the case of an expired document, the electrician is not allowed to work at the facility, he is removed from the brigade.
After the credentials are verified, the approver must demonstrate to the workers that there is no voltage at the facility. To do this, you can show the installed grounding or included grounding knives. It is possible to check whether there is voltage or not using the UVN-10 high-voltage voltage indicator.In the case where grounding is not visible, the person who allows must touch the live parts with the back of his hand.
Briefing
According to the legislation of our country, after checking the workplace and filling out the work permit for work in electrical installations, you need to conduct targeted training. This is the name of the instructions for safe work, which cover specific workers with an order or a specific order. The briefing is carried out by an admittance or a person who received an order in execution.
Do not think that only one person is instructing. First instructs the issuing outfit of the person who is appointed responsible for the work. After that, the approver conducts instruction in relation to the responsible. The responsible person, in turn, issues instructions to the observer and the brigade members. The latter is also instructed by the observer.
During the briefing, it is necessary to give clear instructions on the list of work on the access-tolerance in electrical installations, the movement of crew members in the substation, the technique for safe performance of work, and so on.
How are the work done?
After the briefing is completed, the table is filled in the form of the work permit permit for work in electrical installations. It indicates the workplace, time, date, signature of the manufacturer of work and allowing.
The admission order must be in duplicate. The exception is when the order is issued by telephone. One form is left to the producer of the work, and the other is admitting.
After all the nuances are observed, the team can begin work.
New rules for issuing orders
If earlier it was necessary to fill out a work permit for work in electrical installations, now you can send the document by e-mail. True, it will still need to be printed in the same number of copies. Even in connection with changes in the rules, the need remained to fill in all the columns. Instead of a signature, you must put down the initials of the person who authorized the work, and his position.
The document is signed by the employee who filled in the blank lines. The rules allow the designation of an admitting and an observer in one person. In this case, the admission of the team to work in electrical installations is issued in duplicate. The document is valid for fifteen days. It can be extended only once and also for fifteen days. In case of breaks in work, the outfit is valid until the end of its term.
A person who has filled out the form from the very beginning, or another person who has the right to issue a permit, has the right to renew a permit. Information on the extension of the term can be transmitted by radio or telephone, but it still needs to be recorded. More precisely, the data of the person who allowed the extension is required.
When the work is over, the personnel’s access to work in electrical installations is no longer needed, but they are not getting rid of it. You must keep the document for a month. Only after the expiration of the term it is destroyed. If an accident, accident, or some other incident occurred during the repair, then the permit form is added to the materials that were collected during the investigation and stored with them.
Accounting journal
Work carried out according to the tolerance in electrical installations must be recorded in the journal. The accounting form is indicated in the appendix to the rules. The magazine itself, although in a new edition, has not really changed. Moreover, it does not matter in what form the journal is kept - in automated systems or in electronic.
In the new version of the law, an electronic signature is allowed under the document.
If the company records in another way, then this is completely allowed if authorized by the employer.
When is an outfit issued in one piece?
We have already said that the admission of personnel to work in electrical installations cannot be carried out without an appropriate document. And that it should be in two or more copies, too.But they have not yet raised the question of when the admission order is issued in a single copy.
So, it is allowed to issue a document in one copy, according to the established model of the work permit, for work in electrical installations, if the voltage in the structure is higher than 1000 V. This applies to cases when the structure is de-energized and does not pose a threat to the lives of workers.
It is important to remember that entering installations nearby is strictly prohibited. If the voltage is lower, then it is not necessary to disconnect all live parts.
It is allowed to write out work permit for work in switchboards of installations, busbars and other places. The voltage in this case should not be higher than 1000 V and all equipment should be de-energized.
The rules allow you to fill out a document on the model of an admission order for work in electrical installations for one or several workplaces. This is allowed in cases where the equipment or electrical circuits have the same purpose, name and voltage.
In order to issue one copy of the admission order, you need to make sure that the case allows you to do this. Here are the situations when issuing a document in a single copy is not prohibited.
- Laying or relocating power and control cables, checking protective devices, checking the blocking of electroautomatics, blocking communications and telemechanics and conducting tests.
- Repair work in switching devices.
- Inspection of a single cable in a tunnel, manifold, well, trench or pit.
- Repair of two cables, provided that it is carried out in one switchgear and foundation pit. In this case, it is necessary for the manufacturer to observe the work.
- Contact tightening. The document can be written out in a single copy, if the work is done of the same type and in sequential order, the equipment operates to convert and distribute electrical energy. Simply put, it should be located inside the substation. Such work includes adding oil and taking it for samples, wiping insulators, switching transformer windings, checking electrical automation devices, insulators by means of a rod, relay protection, measuring instruments. This is due to the fact that the work does not relate to those activities that are characterized by increased danger.
High voltage lines
They should be discussed separately, since the rules give them a lot of attention. An order for permission to work is issued by the person who relates to the operational personnel that serves the high-voltage line. He also instructs the members of the team in cases of work on the end support. Those who gave the order must accompany the brigade to the place of work.
ZRU buildings and portals of open switchgears are being repaired by employees who have received permission from the permitter. These workers must be from the personnel who service this particular equipment.
It doesn’t matter what work on access-tolerance in electrical installations is carried out on the line, there will always be one example of this document. Only if the high-voltage line consists of several circuits, the approval is issued for each circuit separately.
But there are exceptions, among them:
- Inspect and repair the high voltage line at switching points.
- Stress relief from the entire high voltage line.
- Prevention on the line with non-current-carrying parts or parts that do not require shutdown.
- Shutdown of transformer points or complete.
Specific work in electrical installations is carried out only after permission is issued for their implementation. It must be issued by someone from the personnel who service the switchgear.
Conclusion
We have already said that the workplace prepares maintenance staff before carrying out work.This is due to the fact that no errors can be made in working with electricity. One has only not to disconnect any device or wire, and such inattention can end in an accident. So it is necessary to approach the work of such a plan with extreme caution and with full responsibility.
Electricians, like anyone else, need to take care of their own safety during operation. After all, it was not in vain that they came up with protective suits and devices that allow checking devices for current.
Unfortunately, not all electricians follow safety precautions. The consequences of such a disregard are rather sad, although the procedure for issuing a work permit was devised. If a person does not care about his health, then no tolerance will help in this situation. Here you need to rely on yourself.
In this regard, I would like to urge specialists in this field to be responsible for their activities and not to neglect possible protective measures. In the end, they are aimed at saving your lives. No matter how interested the bosses are in completing one or another task, first of all they care about your health. So do not ignore this concern, and everything will be fine not only with you, but also with other people. We wish you health and longevity.