Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-09-04
ELECTRICAL RULES
BEING PREPARED
Bureau of Standards Will Pub
Iish Complete Treatise
on Subject.

Rules fer construction. installation and
maintenance of electrical equipment to
safeguard employees and the public are
low under preparation by the bureau Of
standards. according to a statement from
he Department of Commerce.
The rules for safety in the operation
and handling of electrical lines and equip
inent proceed from painstaking study
by the engineers of the bureau of exist
ing rules and practices. These are found
70 vary widely and to offer a very unsat-
isfactory basis for the formulation Of
mandatory codes by any state commits
sion. unless very extended study is
made and the combined experience Of
many companies and workmen utilized
Many existing sets of rules have been de-
Teloped from insufficient data and expe-
renee, the report saws while the vast
majority of companies have no rules
whatever in effect
This lack of rules j. partly due to in
action on the part of state authorities
and partly to the difficulty and expense
each company encounters in preparing its
own rules in any adequate form. The
assistance of state commissions operat-
ing companies and electrical workmen
has been freely given to the bureau in
this work, and the rules in their present
toFhl are oHered to the public for crit-
clsm discussion. and so far as may be
iound desirable. for general adoption.
Scope of Rules.
The scope Of the safety rules includes
all operation of and work on or about
power and signal lines. and the electrical
Equipment of central stations. substa-
tons. mines and testing departments
The rules are divided into three parts.
The first two parts consist of general
rules which apply to the employer and to
the employe. respectively, and the third
part comprises, under separate headings.
those special rules which apply particu-
larry to employees engaged in special
elasses of electrical work
me section for employers calls for the
PROVISION OF employees with rules dia-
grams and emergency Instructions their
assignment to work according to their
demonstrated abilities, and the division
Of responsibility among them in definite
manner so that danger may not arise
through conflict on points of authority
the employer is also required to supply
portable safeguards, to enforce general
operating precautions and to supply en-
nioyes with forms for the adequate re-
ftorting of accidents. The final require
nlent is that the rules for employees be
strictly enforced.
Rules for employees in general are SUBJ
divided into SIX groups. The first emu
merates those general precautions, the
necessity for which seems obvious, but
the noncompliance with which is never
theless responsible for many injuries. The
second presents general operating rules,
defining the duties and relations of those
employees who direct others and the oper-
atIng methods by which safety is re-
quired. The third group prescrfbes the
precautions for handling live parts under
varying conditions of voltage and loca-
ton. The fourth and fifth deal with the
procedures for assuring the continued
safety of work about normally live or
moving parts. respectively, by avoiding
all possible sources of misunderstanding
in killing parts. The sixth group covers
in some detail the procedure for making
protective grounds and short circuits.
Complete Treatment.
Special rules for employees comprise
nine separate headings, covering the spe-
cial hazards of work about electrical
equipment in stations, at switchboards,
about overhead lines in arc lamp at
tendance, on underground lines, meter
setting, testing. and in tunnel or mine
work Each class Of worker is directed
TO faniliarize himself also with the pre-
ceding rules. which apply to all classes
of electrical employment BY this ar
rangement a more adequate and con-
yenient treatment has been realized With
out unnecessary repetition.