1926.405(j): Electrical Equipment for General Use in Construction

(j) Equipment for general use — 96 citations

(1) Lighting fixtures, lampholders, lamps, and receptacles — Open (j)(1) 94 citations

(i) Live parts. Fixtures, lampholders, lamps, rosettes, and receptacles shall have no live parts normally exposed to employee contact. However, rosettes and cleat-type lampholders and receptacles located at least 8 feet (2.44 m) above the floor may have exposed parts. Open (j)(1)(i) 72 citations

(ii) Support. Fixtures, lampholders, rosettes, and receptacles shall be securely supported. A fixture that weighs more than 6 pounds (2.72 kg) or exceeds 16 inches (406 mm) in any dimension shall not be supported by the screw shell of a lampholder. Open (j)(1)(ii) 20 citations

(iii) Portable lamps. Portable lamps shall be wired with flexible cord and an attachment plug of the polarized or grounding type. If the portable lamp uses an Edison-based lampholder, the grounded conductor shall be identified and attached to the screw shell and the identified blade of the attachment plug. In addition, portable handlamps shall comply with the following: 1 citations

(A) Metal shell, paperlined lampholders shall not be used;

(B) Handlamps shall be equipped with a handle of molded composition or other insulating material;

(C) Handlamps shall be equipped with a substantial guard attached to the lampholder or handle;

(D) Metallic guards shall be grounded by the means of an equipment grounding conductor run within the power supply cord.

(iv) Lampholders. Lampholders of the screw-shell type shall be installed for use as lampholders only. Lampholders installed in wet or damp locations shall be of the weatherproof type.

(v) Fixtures. Fixtures installed in wet or damp locations shall be identified for the purpose and shall be installed so that water cannot enter or accumulate in wireways, lampholders, or other electrical parts.

(2) Receptacles, cord connectors, and attachment plugs (caps) — 1 citations

(i) Configuration. Receptacles, cord connectors, and attachment plugs shall be constructed so that no receptacle or cord connector will accept an attachment plug with a different voltage or current rating than that for which the device is intended. However, a 20-ampere T-slot receptacle or cord connector may accept a 15-ampere attachment plug of the same voltage rating. Receptacles connected to circuits having different voltages, frequencies, or types of current (ac or dc) on the same premises shall be of such design that the attachment plugs used on these circuits are not interchangeable.

(ii) Damp and wet locations. A receptacle installed in a wet or damp location shall be designed for the location. 1 citations

(3) Appliances — 1 citations

(i) Live parts. Appliances, other than those in which the current-carrying parts at high temperatures are necessarily exposed, shall have no live parts normally exposed to employee contact. 1 citations

(ii) Disconnecting means. A means shall be provided to disconnect each appliance.

(iii) Rating. Each appliance shall be marked with its rating in volts and amperes or volts and watts.

(4) Motors. This paragraph applies to motors, motor circuits, and controllers.

(i) In sight from. If specified that one piece of equipment shall be “in sight from” another piece of equipment, one shall be visible and not more than 50 feet (15.2 m) from the other.

(ii) Disconnecting means

(A) A disconnecting means shall be located in sight from the controller location. The controller disconnecting means for motor branch circuits over 600 volts, nominal, may be out of sight of the controller, if the controller is marked with a warning label giving the location and identification of the disconnecting means which is to be locked in the open position.

(B) The disconnecting means shall disconnect the motor and the controller from all ungrounded supply conductors and shall be so designed that no pole can be operated independently.

(C) If a motor and the driven machinery are not in sight from the controller location, the installation shall comply with one of the following conditions:

(1) The controller disconnecting means shall be capable of being locked in the open position.

(2) A manually operable switch that will disconnect the motor from its source of supply shall be placed in sight from the motor location.

(D) The disconnecting means shall plainly indicate whether it is in the open (off) or closed (on) position.

(E) The disconnecting means shall be readily accessible. If more than one disconnect is provided for the same equipment, only one need be readily accessible.

(F) An individual disconnecting means shall be provided for each motor, but a single disconnecting means may be used for a group of motors under any one of the following conditions:

(1) If a number of motors drive special parts of a single machine or piece of apparatus, such as a metal or woodworking machine, crane, or hoist;

(2) If a group of motors is under the protection of one set of branch-circuit protective devices; or

(3) If a group of motors is in a single room in sight from the location of the disconnecting means.

(iii) Motor overload, short-circuit, and ground-fault protection. Motors, motor-control apparatus, and motor branch-circuit conductors shall be protected against overheating due to motor overloads or failure to start, and against short-circuits or ground faults. These provisions do not require overload protection that will stop a motor where a shutdown is likely to introduce additional or increased hazards, as in the case of fire pumps, or where continued operation of a motor is necessary for a safe shutdown of equipment or process and motor overload sensing devices are connected to a supervised alarm.

(iv) Protection of live parts—all voltages.

(A) Stationary motors having commutators, collectors, and brush rigging located inside of motor end brackets and not conductively connected to supply circuits operating at more than 150 volts to ground need not have such parts guarded. Exposed live parts of motors and controllers operating at 50 volts or more between terminals shall be guarded against accidental contact by any of the following:

(1) By installation in a room or enclosure that is accessible only to qualified persons;

(2) By installation on a balcony, gallery, or platform, so elevated and arranged as to exclude unqualified persons; or

(3) By elevation 8 feet (2.44 m) or more above the floor.

(B) Where live parts of motors or controllers operating at over 150 volts to ground are guarded against accidental contact only by location, and where adjustment or other attendance may be necessary during the operation of the apparatus, insulating mats or platforms shall be provided so that the attendant cannot readily touch live parts unless standing on the mats or platforms.

(5) Transformers —

(i) Application. The following paragraphs cover the installation of all transformers, except:

(A) Current transformers;

(B) Dry-type transformers installed as a component part of other apparatus;

(C) Transformers which are an integral part of an X-ray, high frequency, or electrostatic-coating apparatus;

(D) Transformers used with Class 2 and Class 3 circuits, sign and outline lighting, electric discharge lighting, and power-limited fire-protective signaling circuits.

(ii) Operating voltage. The operating voltage of exposed live parts of transformer installations shall be indicated by warning signs or visible markings on the equipment or structure.

(iii) Transformers over 35 kV. Dry-type, high fire point liquid-insulated, and askarel-insulated transformers installed indoors and rated over 35 kV shall be in a vault.

(iv) Oil-insulated transformers. If they present a fire hazard to employees, oil-insulated transformers installed indoors shall be in a vault.

(v) Fire protection. Combustible material, combustible buildings and parts of buildings, fire escapes, and door and window openings shall be safeguarded from fires which may originate in oil-insulated transformers attached to or adjacent to a building or combustible material.

(vi) Transformer vaults. Transformer vaults shall be constructed so as to contain fire and combustible liquids within the vault and to prevent unauthorized access. Locks and latches shall be so arranged that a vault door can be readily opened from the inside.

(vii) Pipes and ducts. Any pipe or duct system foreign to the vault installation shall not enter or pass through a transformer vault.

(viii) Material storage. Materials shall not be stored in transformer vaults.

(6) Capacitors —

(i) Drainage of stored charge. All capacitors, except surge capacitors or capacitors included as a component part of other apparatus, shall be provided with an automatic means of draining the stored charge and maintaining the discharged state after the capacitor is disconnected from its source of supply.

(ii) Over 600 volts. Capacitors rated over 600 volts, nominal, shall comply with the following additional requirements:

(A) Isolating or disconnecting switches (with no interrupting rating) shall be interlocked with the load interrupting device or shall be provided with prominently displayed caution signs to prevent switching load current.

(B) For series capacitors the proper switching shall be assured by use of at least one of the following:

(1) Mechanically sequenced isolating and bypass switches,

(2) Interlocks, or

(3) Switching procedure prominently displayed at the switching location.

[51 FR 25318, July 11, 1986, as amended at 61 FR 5510, Feb. 13, 1996; 85 FR 8736, Feb. 18, 2020]