Test & Measurement

Tip of the Week: Use NFPA 70E to Guide Your Safety Program

May 26, 2015

Understanding how the safety standard is arranged will help you find the sections relevant to your work.

This safety standard seems like a lot to flip through, every time you want to do work on electrical equipment. That’s a “reason” given for ignoring it. But this “reason” fails the test of logic.

First of all, the standard isn’t meant to be directly referred to every time you work on electrical equipment. One of its purposes is to serve as a guide in establishing the written procedures for working on specific equipment. For example, NFPA 70E tells you how to calculate incident energy and arc flash boundaries; you do this calculation once for your switchgear, and then update your procedures with this information.

Second, there’s no need “flip through” this standard. Doing that is actually a bad practice. Instead, understand how it’s arranged. This way, you can quickly refer to the relevant sections when you need to and not miss any.

About the Author

Mark Lamendola

Mark is an expert in maintenance management, having racked up an impressive track record during his time working in the field. He also has extensive knowledge of, and practical expertise with, the National Electrical Code (NEC). Through his consulting business, he provides articles and training materials on electrical topics, specializing in making difficult subjects easy to understand and focusing on the practical aspects of electrical work.

Prior to starting his own business, Mark served as the Technical Editor on EC&M for six years, worked three years in nuclear maintenance, six years as a contract project engineer/project manager, three years as a systems engineer, and three years in plant maintenance management.

Mark earned an AAS degree from Rock Valley College, a BSEET from Columbia Pacific University, and an MBA from Lake Erie College. He’s also completed several related certifications over the years and even was formerly licensed as a Master Electrician. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and past Chairman of the Kansas City Chapters of both the IEEE and the IEEE Computer Society. Mark also served as the program director for, a board member of, and webmaster of, the Midwest Chapter of the 7x24 Exchange. He has also held memberships with the following organizations: NETA, NFPA, International Association of Webmasters, and Institute of Certified Professional Managers.