Electrical Industry Articles and Stories

Some facilities are changing their requirements for motor and appliance installations. This could be due to OSHA Lock-out and Tag-out requirements or NFPA 70E. The change is toward using pin and sleeve devices instead of having a hard-wired installation.

Safety requirements often have the maintenance person checking for the absence of voltage before touching. The rules are quite specific and are enforced by OSHA.

Bonding and grounding are simple concepts, but, unfortunately, they’re also easily confused with each other. Definitions of one term often get wrapped up in the definitions of the other, and, before long, one can begin thinking the words are interchangeable.

“Grounding” refers to the creation of a path from electrical equipment to the earth. It is intended to protect equipment and help prevent fires that might occur due to high voltages resulting from lightning strikes, line surges or unintended contact with higher-voltage lines.