Electrical expert witness David J. Marne, P.E., is the author of McGraw-Hill’s National Electrical Safety Code® (NESC®) Handbook. Here he answers the question:
Do communications utility workers and power utility workers need to follow the NESC® or OSHA rules?
Both.
The National Electrical Safety Code® (NESC®) has been adopted in some form by each state in the United States except California. It contains work rules for power and communication utilty workers. It also contains rules for power and communication poles, lines, and equipment.
OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) is a branch of the U.S. Department of Labor. The OSHA standards cover the responsibilities for employers and for employees in the United States, including power and communication workers. Each employee should be knowledgeable of the OSHA requirements that cover the work that employee is engaged in. Employees may not work closer than 10 ft to energized electrical lines and equipment without training and knowledge of the electrical hazards involved.