NFPA 70E 2000: Updating Electrical Safety Requirements for Employee Workplaces

The Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) of 1970 was passed by the Congress of the United States of America (USA) to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women. The Act became effective on April 28, 1971. The initial policy of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), regarding electrical safety requirements, was to incorporate into the Act, by reference, the various national consensus standards such as the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) 1968 National Electrical Code(NEC). On March 15, 1972, an amendment to the regulations adopted the 1971 NEC. As time advanced, the U.S. courts established chat compliance with the NEC resulted in installations having provisions considered necessary for safety. However, the NEC lacked safety standards for work practices. By 1975, OSHA encouraged NFPA to undertake the cask of condensing the portions of the NEC covering chose elements directly associated with personnel safety into a document chat could be used as a guide for inspection of employee work places. On January 7, 1976, the NFPA 70E Committee was activated, functioning under the National Electrical Code Correlating Committee. The NFPA 70E Committee was formed to assist OSHA in preparing electrical safety standards that would serve OSHA's needs. Their charter was to produce a document chat addressed personnel-related safety issues, which could be used as a guide for inspection of employee work places. NFP A 70E had to be capable of crossing two major hurdles: one being the standard NFPA consensus development process, and the other being the recognition process required under the Occupational Safety and Health Acc.