Let me provide a scenario before I ask my question:

An electrical enclosure has a minimum approach distance of 8ft for unqualified workers. On the outside door of the enclosure there are external connections for PLC control and a touch panel for process control.


Could an unqualified worker (operator) use the touch panel wearing only the uniform issued to him even though he is less than 8ft from the conductors inside the locked enclosure, or would he be required to have a qualified person wearing the appropriate PPE operate the touch panel?


Thank you for your time,

If your limited approach boundary is 8 feet, as it is for 36.1 to 46KV,that pertains to shock hazard and applies only to exposed conductors. In that case your operator should be able to use the touch panel without qualified electrical people present. If your arc flash protection boundary is 8 feet, I would ask what the operator can do from the touch panel. Can he open or close breakers or motor contactors within the panel? If so, using PPE and qualified personnel would be the conservative approach and the one OSHA would expect if something bad ever happened. On the other hand, if the operator can only access a few data points and not switch anything, I would think that the operator could do that without PPE or a qualified electrical person present.

Thank You

Thank you for your fast response. This will help greatly.