NFPA 70B Electrical Safety Maintenance Program Miami Dade.
NFPA 70B-2023 has made the transition from a "Recommended" practice to the "Standard" for Electrical Equipment Maintenance and applies to industrial plants, institutional and commercial buildings, and large multifamily residential complexes..
Electrical maintenance for safety of personnel and environment is the key focus of this Standard. The primary intent of this Standard is to prevent injury to personnel and to provide for the practical safeguarding of persons, property, and processes from the risks associated with failure, breakdown, or malfunction and a means to establish a condition of maintenance of electrical equipment and systems for safety and reliability.
Electrical Safety Maintenance Program Requirements:
Address the condition of maintenance.
Identify the personnel responsible for implementing each element of the program.
Survey and analyze the electrical equipment and systems to determine requirements and priorities.
Develop and document maintenance procedures for equipment.
Inspections, servicing, and tests.
Document and maintain records-retention policy.
Prescribe, implement, and document corrective measures based on data collected.
Incorporate design for maintainability in electrical installations.
Review failures and findings for continuous improvement.
Miami NFPA 70B Safety Electrical Maintenance Program.
Why is NFPA 70B standard now and no longer recommended practice?
Its language has changed from ‘should’ or ‘should not’ to ‘shall’ or ‘shall not.’
The common in that the word should is uses for recommendation and the word shall for Standard, and the Standards are usually used to enforce the Codes
Differences between Guide, Recommended practice, Standard and Code
Guide: Informative, with advisories and how-to’s
Recommended practice: Non-binding guidance, explanatory, outlining suggestions and best practices
Standard: Compulsory, with detailed procedures required to meet the code
Code: Industry-based law enacted by national authorities
When does the 2023 NFPA 70B standard go into effect?
NFPA 70B is effective now. It was issued by the NFPA Standards Council on December 27, 2022, with an effective date of January 16, 2023
Why do buildings need to comply?
Worker safety and system reliability depend on properly operating and maintaining electrical equipment and systems.
Manufacturer instructions, industry recommendations, and electrical maintenance programs provide guidance.
However, with the recent publication of the 2023 edition of NFPA 70B as an industry standard, these recommendations have transitioned to mandatory provisions.
Who will be responsible for monitoring compliance?
The equipment owner is responsible for implementing and documenting their Electrical Maintenance Program (EMP). NFPA 70B defines an EMP Coordinator as the individual responsible for the EMP’s coordination, implementation, and operation.
Because of the interrelationship between the Electrical Safety Program required by NFPA 70E and the Electrical Maintenance Program required by NFPA 70B, the requirements of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 70E, and 70B must all be included. This means that multiple functions, including safety, health and environment, maintenance, operations, etc., will play a role.
How and why is NFPA 70B a requirement?
The new NFPA 70B standard now contains mandatory provisions necessary for worker safety and reliability of nearly all electrical equipment and systems. Several NFPA documents directly or indirectly reference maintenance requirements and/or NFPA 70B.
For example
NFPA 70E section 110.5(C) requires workers to consider the maintenance condition
NFPA 110 chapter 8 addresses routine maintenance and operational testing
NEC section 700.3 addresses servicing and maintenance of emergency systems
OSHA regulations require employers to provide a workplace free from serious recognized hazards (“OSHA Regulations All Employers Should Know”). A proven approach to accomplish this is to follow national consensus standards such as NFPA 70E and NFPA 70B. Because the maintenance condition can impact the risk for operators and maintainers of electrical equipment, complying with the requirements in NFPA 70E and 70B is instrumental in achieving compliance with OSHA regulations.
To which facilities does NFPA 70B apply?
As stated in NFPA 70B section 1.3.1, systems and equipment covered are typical of those installed for industrial plants, institutional and commercial buildings, and large multi-family residential complexes.
Will insurance companies conduct NFPA 70B audits?
The insurance industry is represented on the NFPA 70B technical committee, and they helped author the new standard.
The new edition of NFPA 70B became effective January 16, 2023. As an enforceable standard, NPFA 70B noncompliance could impact insurance costs if insurers link coverage to standards compliance.
Aspects of equipment maintenance addressed in NFPA 70B include:
Planning and carrying out an electrical preventive maintenance program for all types of equipment and assemblies
Developing specifications for installation that take maintenance into account
Personnel safety
Fundamentals of electrical equipment maintenance
System studies
Power quality
Testing and test methods
Maintenance of electrical equipment subject to long intervals between shutdowns
Grounding and ground-fault protection
Plus, detailed chapters on many different types of assemblies, equipment, cables, and devices
NFPA 70B has established the following procedures:
visual inspection
cleaning
lubrication
mechanical service
testing
The frequency of these procedures varies depending on the type of the electrical equipment and the conditions of maintenance.
Infrared Thermography Inspection is required for all electrical equipment at least every 12 months for pieces with physical condition 1.
Maintenance intervals based on an Equipment Condition Assessment, which depends on the following conditions:
Equipment physical condition
Criticality
Operating environment
Physical Conditions of Maintenance:
"Condition 1” is defined as essentially a new asset, one that is in the best physical condition it could possibly be, like new.
"Condition 2” equipment concerns those assets that were noted to have problems in previous condition assessments but have not required repairs during the past two previous maintenance cycles.
“Condition 3” is defined through the following criteria:
The equipment has missed the last two successive maintenance cycles in accordance with the EMP.
The previous two maintenance cycles have revealed issues requiring the repair or replacement of major equipment components.
There is an active or unaddressed notification from the continuous monitoring system.
There are urgent actions identified from predictive techniques.
The equipment condition assessment (ECA) is driven by the HIGHEST value of these three conditions. For example, if equipment is designated “Condition 1” for electrical equipment and criticality, but a “Condition 3” for operating environment, then the equipment would use “Condition 3” durations for the ECA maintenance intervals.
NFPA 70B requires a decal system at the conclusion of maintenance to provide a visual indication for electrical workers of the electrical equipment condition of maintenance.
Pieces of electrical equipment requiring maintenance:
Energy Storage Systems (batteries)
Busways
Cable trays (gutters)
Electrical Vehicle Power transfer systems
Electronic equipment
Fuses
GFCI
Grounding & Bonding
High Voltage Substation Insulators
Lighting
Lighting Control Systems (relays, timers, photocells)
Low Voltage Ground Fault Protection Systems
Medium Voltage Ground Fault Protection Systems
Medium Voltage Power Circuit Breakers ***
Molded-Case/Insulated-case low voltage circuit breakers
Motor control equipment
Panelboard and switchboard
Photovoltaic systems
Portable electrical tools and equipment
Power and distribution transformers
Power cables
Power Factor correction capacitors
Protective relays electromechanical
Protective device solid state and microprocessors
Public pools, fountains or similar
Rotating equipment
Stationary standby batteries
Substations
Switches
Switchgear
UPSs
Wind Power electrical systems
Wiring devices
Studies Required:
Short circuit
Coordination of protections
Arc Flash
Load flow
Reliability
Incident Analysis / Risk reduction