Working alone or

accompanied in
electrical works
 Almost every employer needs a formal Work Alone? policy that:

1) Defines which tasks are not suitable for working alone. OSHA prohibits
working alone in at least nine OSHA general industry standards.

2) Defines steps to take such as communication systems required, or reporting

in periodically, or having someone check on the employee periodically when
employees are allowed to work alone on highly hazardous jobs such as
working with corrosive chemicals, high voltage, or testing and positioning of
machinery.

3) Establishes other controls such as emergency signaling and emergency

response and rescue.
Working Alone
• Identification of the risks or hazards
• associated with the work to be performed
or the environment where the work is to
be done,
• Emergency contact number for the
employee,
• Name of employee that will be working
alone,

• Job tasks that will be accomplished,

• Methods of communication by which the worker
can secure emergency assistance and how
emergency assistance will be provided in the
event of incidents or accidents,
• Time intervals in which the employee will be
contacted (10 minutes, 20 minutes, etc.),

• If the employee was involved in the development

of the checklist, and

• Whether a risk/hazard assessment was

completed for the task.
 Working Alone
• Project not to exceed 8 hours in duration: The job may not exceed one day.
• An apprentice working under the conditions of indirect supervision is not allowed to return to
the same project under the same conditions.
• Projects qualifying for indirect supervision are intended to be of the short service call nature.

• No energized work allowed: A 2nd-5th year apprentice is allowed to work on justified

energized systems up to 250V under the direct supervision of a journeyman electrician no
greater than an arm’s length away.

• If the apprentice is working on a job where other journeymen are present, they must be
counted as an apprentice for ratio purposes and are not allowed to work under the rules of
indirect supervision.
Working Accompanied
• Extreme heights
• Use of fall protection
• Use of respiratory
equipment
• Operation of power-lift
equipment
• Confined space
• Hazardous substances or
materials
• High-voltage electricity
• Hot-work conditions
 https://insulation.org/io/articles/
safety-procedures-for-
employees-working-alone/

References: https://www.ishn.com/articles/
83132-working-alone

Work Alone Card – NECA-IBEW

Electrical Training Center
(nietc.org)