safe isolation commercial enviroment

thegazman · Oct 29, 2014

Hi all
I'm new to the forums and probably posted in the wrong place & this has probably been asked before but here we go..
I work for a fire and securine company who also havery just enrolled for niceic approved contractor as we supply the fcu etc for all our control gear in commercial/ industrial environments aswell and the odd eml change out and addition/ installation My query was safe isolation as most fuse boards we work on are supplying various critical equipment and very rarely we can isolate the entire board most cases we remove the cover add new fuse do ze, r1 r2 etc while cover removed but board still live if that makes sense. However I know this is not ideal but with our assesment coming up I have informed niceic that most boards cannot be isolated completely, has anyone else had this kind of situation? And do you feel niceic would be un pleased with us going this route?
Thank you in advance

cprfenom · Oct 29, 2014

NIC will want to see competence. During an assessment they will want to know that you are following safe isolation etc, but not necessarily ask you to prove it on the day.

In any situation you should be trying your up most to be as safe as possible to yourself and others around you. If they think for a second that you are not then they will not just ignore it.

How do you take Ze when the board is live? Im hoping you say you dont.

thegazman · Oct 29, 2014

Cheers mate, haha no wouldn't pull the earth on live board , I was just curious if they would be unhappy with the fact we expose the boards to install new fuses will main isolators still energised. Thanks again

Plonker 3 · Oct 30, 2014

The NICEIC will be very happy that payment has been made, everything is simple from here on in. Just dont electricute anyone on the day of your assesment and I am sure you will be fine.

Now what Risk Assesments and safe systems of work are in place do you have in place for working on live DBs?
How can you fill out a EIC if you cant isolate the DB to carry out a Ze?

thegazman · Oct 30, 2014

Hi mate thanks for that, we do always carry out a risk assesment prior to work commencing and supply rams to clent, most dbs are placed out of reach or in riser cupboards but we generally use barriers too, dbs never left exposed and unmaned, the covers are usually only off for a few minutes while we carry out what ever tests are possible, on a EIC for ze I try get it by enquiry , just wasn't too sure on the fact we install extra fuses on live DBs as I know this isn't ideal but isolation of board just wouldn't happpen