First and foremost, it is imperative that we all recognize safety is a shared responsibility. Implementing safety is not only on the employer, or owner—responsibility for safety exists with each employee.

Employers and employees have responsibilities, and the NFPA 70E standard addresses them. It begins in Article 105, which covers the application of safety-­related work practices and procedures. Before reviewing some of the basic employer requirements, it is extremely important to discuss the employee’s role.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 created OSHA. Section 5 (commonly known as the General Duty Clause) outlines employers’ and employees’ duties. Employers are required to furnish a place of employment free from recognized hazards causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm. That is well understood in our industry.

Employees’ roles

Many employees believe, however, that OSHA requirements apply only to the employer and do not affect them. Nothing could be further from the truth. While employees cannot be cited with OSHA violations or fined, Section 5(a)(2) of the OSH Act mandates them to “comply with occupational safety and health standards and all rules, regulations, and orders issued pursuant to this Act which are applicable to his own actions and conduct.”

Additionally, NFPA 70E, in Section 105.3(B), mandates that employees must comply with the safety-related work practices their employer provides. When an employee’s actions or behaviors violate their training, company policies, professional standards or accepted workplace norms, the legal term is “employee misconduct,” which can result in serious negative consequences.

Employers’ responsibilities

Employers are responsible for establishing, documenting, implementing and training employees in safety-related work practices and procedures as required in NFPA 70E. (See Section 105.3(A).) This means that in addition to the qualified person training requirements in Section 110.4, employers must develop, implement and train employees on the employer’s individual work practices and procedures. This would include, but not be limited to, a prescriptive lockout/tagout (LOTO) procedure and electrically safe work condition (ESWC) policy. While the general rule and “first priority” (110.2(A)(1)) is to always create an ESWC, there will be circumstances that require justified energized work. Policies and procedures must also be developed to address the justification thresholds (energized work) in Section 110.2(B).

Each employer with employees that may be exposed to an electrical hazard must implement and document an electrical safety program (ESP) that addresses the risk. Requirements for the ESP are in Section 110.3, which drives employer responsibilities in the field.

There must be a policy and perhaps a procedure for assessing the condition of maintenance of electrical equipment including, but not limited to, circuit breakers. Employees must be provided with guidance and training to complete comprehensive risk assessments, including for operating condition and maintenance.

One of the most difficult, yet extremely important parts of the ESP is building it to provide continuous awareness of potential electrical hazards and self-discipline. This is a function of training, continuous monitoring, supervision and auditing. The training should identify clear goals for employees and instruction on avoiding distractions and identifying obstacles. Informative Annex Q in the standard provides essential information on human performance that all employers—and most importantly, everyone in management/supervision—should read and understand.

A key principle of human performance is that employees can achieve very high levels with the employer’s safety-related work practices when they receive encouragement and reinforcement from the employer. A simple “Well done” goes a long way toward encouraging repeated and desirable behavior, helping to keep employees safe from exposure to electrical and other hazards.

Employers must also develop and implement a risk assessment procedure as required in 110.3(H). The elements required are very basic: the employer must build a procedure for risk assessments that (1) identifies hazards, (2) assesses associated risk and (3) implements risk control according to the hierarchy of risk control methods listed in 110.3(H)(3). The risk assessment must also consider the potential for human error and should identify when a second person could be required and the level of training that person should have received.

Job safety planning/briefings are required and should be part of any procedure implemented where justified energized work is performed. A written LOTO program is required and must include a prescriptive LOTO procedure as required by OSHA 1910.333(b)(2)(i). The construction standard requirement titled “lockout and tagging of circuits” in 1926.417 is useless in any LOTO program, as it mandates only that “equipment or circuits be rendered inoperative.” It is not a prescriptive LOTO procedure.

There are many more employer responsibilities, including training of qualified persons as required in Section 110.4.

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