NTT Blog

NFPA 110: How To Ensure Your Employees’ Work Will be Compliant

If your employees work with electricity, they need to know how to be safe around it, but also the relevant codes and regulations that keep these complicated systems running. The NFPA 110 is one of the codes they should know and understand well enough to be able to produce work that is compliant with the code and something you and your business will be proud of.

How can safety training help ensure that all work is compliant with the code?

There’s a lot at stake and NFPA 110 covers a lot of material. Your employees need to manage:

• Installation, operation, and maintenance requirements of batteries, UPS systems, transfer switches, and standby generators
• A myriad of other applicable principles and electrical standards, including NFPA 70B, IEEE 3007, and NETA Maintenance Test Specifications
• How to set and operate the generator, including engine, generator, and controls
• System maintenance and troubleshooting
• Other components of most standby systems, such as uninterruptible power supplies, transfer switches, and stationary batteries

It’s not just a handful of staff members who need to know this stuff. You need to train senior staff like building managers and superintendents, owners, managers, safety directors, supervisors, plant and facility managers, and building engineers.

Then there are electricians, mechanics, energy management personnel, warehouse employees, fire alarm technicians, HVAC techs, linemen and utility workers, and maintenance technicians. All of these people could benefit from learning this code and how to be compliant.

Why is this important for industrial workers?

As you can see, it’s not just top brass and mid-level managers who need to understand NFPA 110, it’s practically everybody apart from kitchen staff and administrators that you need to have trained and competent. Why?

Because a lot of things that cause power outages, like power surges and short circuits to name only two, frequently cause fires. The sooner everyone in the building everyone is aware there’s a fire, the sooner they can evacuate the premises and live to tell their friends and family about it. But wait, the electrical supply that powers the fire alarms got cut, and there is no alarm.

And that is why so many people need to know about NFPA 110, so they can work the standard into their everyday working lives to (a) make sure the fire alarms remain functional in an emergency, and (b) they can activate the fire alarms pronto if and when the power does go out.

What do you teach your employees about NFPA 110?

Take basic requirements for installing a generator. Certain employees will need to know things like marking requirements, selecting and sizing cables and conductors for generator output, how to protect live parts, and overcurrent protection. These are essential for making sure the systems tick over and kick in immediately there’s a problem.

Your maintenance team will need to know how to troubleshoot frequency control, voltage control, and grounding problems. There are relevant maintenance issues concerning the starting battery and other operating factors. Then, because the National Fire Protection Association doesn’t work in isolation, your team will need to be aware of the maintenance practices recommended by IEEE, EGSA, NETA, and other connected NFPA practices and standards.

On top of all that, the standard includes electrical theory for generating electrical power; your people can’t just follow a recipe book; they need to understand first principles as well as they know the alphabet. They need to drill down to the nitty gritty on transfer switch equipment, generator loading and control, and generator control.

Where do you find someone who can teach all this?

National Technology Transfer (NTT), delivers comprehensive, skills-based seminars and hands-on training to workers around the world. Our expert instructors bring custom-built training equipment to any of your locations. Alternatively, you can send your employees to one of our hundreds of off-site training centers throughout the United States. Contact NTT today and see how quickly we can train everyone on your team who needs to know NFPA 110.

For more information about National Technology Transfer or any of our programs click here: http://www.nttinc.com or http://www.nttinc.com/seminar-list-catalog/.