What is needed so that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) would consider your people “qualified persons” — that is, people who are exposed to electrical hazards 50V and greater (Photo 1)? This could be electricians, technicians, HVAC technicians, or any other person who works near 50V or more. OSHA doesn’t care about the job title. If your job title is “Chief Bag Carrier” and you work on or near exposed energized electrical conductors or circuit parts, you need to be qualified.

One important distinction to note is that for a qualified person to work on what is considered to be energized circuits or parts, that circuit would have to be both exposed and energized. Therefore, energized equipment that is not exposed would not have the same requirements as equipment that is exposed. It is considered “guarded” (Photo 2) by OSHA and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 70E standards and would present no danger — unless you open the door, rack in or out a circuit breaker, or do something else that would expose the energized part inside. //

There are two sources that provide training requirements for qualified persons:

OSHA regulations in 29CFR1910.399, 1910.332,  and 1910.333
NFPA 70E, “Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace”

OSHA uses broad, regulatory, non-prescriptive language. In other words, it can be vague if you are not used to using it. NFPA 70E is very prescriptive. The two documents work together to provide a complete picture.