437-002-2319 Underground Electrical Installations This rule provides additional requirements for work on underground electrical installations. (1) Access. The employer must ensure that employees use a ladder or other climbing device to enter and exit a manhole or subsurface vault exceeding 1.22 meters (4 feet) in depth. No employee may climb into or out of a manhole or vault by stepping on cables or hangers. (2) Lowering equipment into manholes. (a) Equipment used to lower materials and tools into manholes or vaults must be capable of supporting the weight to be lowered and must be checked for defects before use. (b) Before anyone lowers tools or material into the opening for a manhole or vault, each employee working in the manhole or vault must be clear of the area directly under the opening. (3) Attendants for manholes and vaults. (a) While work is being performed in a manhole or vault containing energized electric equipment, an employee with first-aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation training must be available on the surface in the immediate vicinity of the manhole or vault entrance to render emergency assistance. (b) Occasionally, the employee on the surface may briefly enter a manhole or vault to provide nonemergency assistance. NOTE 1 to paragraph (3)(b): 437-002-2304(7) of Division 2/RR may also require an attendant and does not permit this attendant to enter the manhole or vault. NOTE 2 to paragraph (3)(b): 437-002-2311(1)(b) of Division 2/RR requires employees entering manholes or vaults containing unguarded, uninsulated energized lines or parts of electric equipment operating at 50 volts or more to be qualified. (c) For the purpose of inspection, housekeeping, taking readings, or similar work, an employee working alone may enter, for brief periods of time, a manhole or vault where energized cables or equipment are in service if the employer can demonstrate that the employee will be protected from all electrical hazards. (d) The employer must ensure that employees maintain reliable communications, through two-way radios or other equivalent means, among all employees involved in the job. (4) Duct rods. The employer must ensure that, if employees use duct rods, the employees install the duct rods in the direction presenting the least hazard to employees. The employer must station an employee at the far end of the duct line being rodded to ensure that the employees maintain the required minimum approach distances. (5) All primary cables must be permanently and plainly identified by tags or other methods at both ends. (6) Multiple cables. When multiple cables are present in a work area, the employer must identify the cable to be worked by electrical means, unless its identity is obvious by reason of distinctive appearance or location or by other readily apparent means of identification. The employer must protect cables other than the one being worked from damage. (7) Moving cables. Except when paragraph (8)(b) of this rule permits employees to perform work that could cause a fault in an energized cable in a manhole or vault, the employer must ensure that employees inspect energized cables to be moved for abnormalities. (8) Protection against faults. (a) Where a cable in a manhole or vault has one or more abnormalities that could lead to a fault or be an indication of an impending fault, the employer must deenergize the cable with the abnormality before any employee may work in the manhole or vault, except when service-load conditions and a lack of feasible alternatives require that the cable remain energized. In that case, employees may enter the manhole or vault provided the employer protects them from the possible effects of a failure using shields or other devices that are capable of containing the adverse effects of a fault. The employer must treat the following abnormalities as indications of impending faults unless the employer can demonstrate that the conditions could not lead to a fault: Oil or compound leaking from cable or joints, broken cable sheaths or joint sleeves, hot localized surface temperatures of cables or joints, or joints swollen beyond normal tolerance. (b) If the work employees will perform in a manhole or vault could cause a fault in a cable, the employer must deenergize that cable before any employee works in the manhole or vault, except when service-load conditions and a lack of feasible alternatives require that the cable remain energized. In that case, employees may enter the manhole or vault provided the employer protects them from the possible effects of a failure using shields or other devices that are capable of containing the adverse effects of a fault. (9) Sheath continuity. When employees perform work on buried cable or on cable in a manhole or vault, the employer must maintain metallic-sheath continuity, or the cable sheath must be treated as energized. Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 654.025(2) & 656.726(4) Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS 654.001 - 654.295 History: OSHA 3-2015, f. 10-9-15, cert. ef. 1-1-16