Electrical Safety Groups: Specificity of Assignment and Granting of Admission under the New Rules

In order to have the right to work in any electrical installations, you need to have the appropriate qualifications and special knowledge. A diploma testifies to specialized education, but this is not enough. The peculiarity of such works lies in the fact that their conduct requires the certification of the electrical safety group and the corresponding approval.

What is meant by these terms, what is needed in order to obtain such an admission - all this will be discussed in the publication below. We will also consider the features of the assignment of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth tolerance groups and analyze the information contained in the identity of the tolerance group.

Who can I assign a skillset to?

Obtaining an admission group implies that the employee has a sufficient level of knowledge in the field of safe maintenance and operation of electrical installations. It is assigned to personnel associated with work in electrical installations.

Group assignments are preceded by:

• training (briefing);
• passing the exam;
• issuing the appropriate certificate (if the exam is passed successfully).

First of all, you need to know that all personnel directly or indirectly related to electrical installations belong to one of three categories or classes:

• electrical engineering;
• electrotechnological;
• non-electrical.

Each group of personnel solves a specific area of ​​tasks stipulated in the Intersectoral Industrial Safety when operating electrical installations. In accordance with this document, there are only five electrical safety teams. The more complex the task, the higher the discharge category for electrical safety must have service personnel.

The welder has the right to service electrical equipment with a tolerance group not lower than the second. It belongs to the electrical engineering category of personnel

Consider the signs on which the division of workers into categories.

Category # 1 - Electrical Engineering Personnel

To the electrical personnel, first of all, there is such a subcategory as administrative workers, starting with the master and ending with the chief engineer. Their responsibilities include process planning, as well as the deployment of installation, commissioning, and repair of electrical equipment.

The next subcategory is operational. Workers assigned to it are engaged in both operational and technical service of the enterprise’s electrical facilities. The scope of their duties covers inspections, preliminary training of work areas, operational switching.

Organization of a place of work by operational personnel when stress relief is required includes shutdowns, hanging prohibitory posters. Also, the employee must verify by checking that there is no voltage on the current-carrying elements, apply grounding, place indicating, warning and prescriptive posters

If there is appropriate training, the personnel of this subcategory can directly participate in the elimination of damage, the elimination of accidents, and help employees performing repair work.

The third subcategory is specialized specialists. These include both ATP and welders, electricians, electricians. Personnel assigned to the electrical class are assigned electrical safety groups from primary (second) to fifth. Each group limits the functions of its owner - the staff with the V group are given the widest powers.

Category # 2 - Electrotechnological Personnel

The staff servicing, repairing, operating electrotechnological installations - galvanic, electrolysis, welding, electrofusion - refers to electrotechnological.

These workers use mobile power tools, lighting fixtures, and electric powered hand-held machines.

Also in this category includes personnel whose job descriptions provide for knowledge of POT:

1. Administrative and technical workersrelated to operational-technical service, commissioning, installation, repair work in power plants.
2. Operational staffengaged in the management of installations, their routine maintenance. Their responsibility includes the preparation of places for work, monitoring other employees, and performing the work required by the current operation of the equipment.
3. Operational and repair personneltrained for maintenance assigned to him equipment.
4. Repair workers. They are responsible for installation, testing, maintenance, commissioning.

Belonging to the electrotechnological category implies the presence of a safety qualification group not lower than the second.

Category # 3 - Non-Electrical Personnel

Employees who are not included in any of the above categories are non-electrical personnel. At the same time, it cannot be said that their work excludes 100% probability of electric shock.

The first group does not give employees the right to visit the premises of electrical installations, which include transformer, battery, mobile DES, electrical switchboard

The employer must approve the list of such workers. The admission group is their first. They should know the safety rules and the fundamentals of electrical engineering at least in the minimum amount sufficient to carry out the work assigned to them without risking themselves.

Commission and group assignment rules

Since 2018, the assignment of the electrical safety group has been under the new rules, legalized by order RTN No. 00-08-05 / 388. But the changes concern the receipt of higher admission groups.From that moment, training centers have no authority to conduct certification; they only have the right to study. At the end of the process, Rostekhnadzor takes exams.

There is a second option - in accordance with the Order, starting from July 29, 2018, enterprises must create their own commissions and check knowledge on the spot.

Formation of certification commissions based on the PTE of electrical installations of consumers from January 13, 2003 No. 6.

The commission should include at least 5 people. Its members can be persons who have been trained at Rostekhnadzor and have received the necessary qualifications

All requirements are specified in the Rules in Section 1.4.33. More stringent requirements are presented to the chairman of the commission - if it is a question of working in a power supply with voltages up to and above 1000 V, then a fifth group is necessary.

If the enterprise has electrical installations operating exclusively at voltages up to 1000 V, 4 groups are sufficient.

When forming the commission proceed from the level of the certified. Electrotechnical and electrotechnological personnel are tested in the commission. In this case, the chairman is appointed the employee responsible for the electrical industry.

Usually it includes an OT engineer who monitors the operation of electrical installations, a chief or lead engineer. Based on the results of certification exams, the commission draws up a protocol. It is signed by all members of the commission. There is a mark on the assessment of knowledge, on the assigned admission group, on the date of the next certification.

Each enterprise should develop lists of professions and positions of electrical personnel and senior employees, as well as workers with the first admission group.

At the entrance to the EU it is necessary to place an information plate in which the electrical safety groups allowed in it should be indicated. In addition, it should be attended by persons authorized to conduct a sole inspection of the electrical installation

The employer is responsible for attracting unapproved workers to work in ES. It can be both administrative and criminal.

Group Requirements

The admission group outlines the tasks that its owner can solve in a particular segment of the electrical sector - the conclusions are made by the commission certifying the employee.

Assignment of the initial or first group

Special preparation for the first group is not required. The employee is instructed, then a small survey - oral or written. It is enough for the examinee to have a concept of electrical safety, first aid in case of electric shock, to navigate in the safety instructions. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the meaning of posters by electrical safety and features of their application.

Both the briefing and the issuance of the admission rests with a specialist with a group not lower than the third. Even a person who has graduated from a university and has a degree in electrical engineering cannot immediately get a group higher than the second or first. Subsequent groups are assigned depending on the length of service at the energy facility.

The procedure for obtaining the second admission group

The Qualification Commission assigns a second group of admission to electrical personnel who are engaged in the maintenance of equipment and installations with an electric drive. This group includes high-frequency thermist units, welders, lifters, hoists, and others.

The second group assumes that the employee has elementary knowledge about the design of the electrical installation and its equipment. He must be clearly aware of the threats posed by electric shock, the danger of proximity to live parts.

The employee is obliged to know what measures to take for his safety when working in a power plant and what to do in case of injuries

Having a level 2 tolerance, an employee can service electrical installations, but not connect them.Assign this admission group according to the results of testing in Rostekhnadzor or by the commission of the enterprise. At the same time, the certified person must have at least a month of work experience in EU by profession.

When passing the exam for the first time, the employee must undergo a briefing of at least 72 hours before this.

How to become the owner of the third group?

A higher level of theoretical and practical knowledge should be possessed by a person applying for the third group of admission. Having it, he can connect power supplies up to 1000 V, work with them. It is allowed to include it in the composition of the team conducting work with power plants of more than 1000 V.

In his certificate must be marked "to and more than 1000 V". A group is assigned to those employees who have passed the relevant certification in the supervision or commission of the enterprise with a positive result.

In order for the tests for the third tolerance group to end with a positive result, it is necessary to have textbook knowledge in the field of general electrical engineering, to understand the device of the electric power device, to know the order of its maintenance. A clear understanding of the general safety rules, in particular, the rules for admission to work, is also necessary.

As for the work directly performed, one needs to know the special requirements for it, as well as the rules for the use and testing of protective equipment.

A specialist who has in his luggage a higher electrical education, having worked in the second group for one month, can apply for a third group. A person who is a trainee in vocational schools can apply for a third group after at least 6 months

The third group obliges us to be able to monitor the employees working in educational institutions with ensuring their safety. In a non-standard situation, such an employee must, in compliance with the rules, be able to remove the victim from the electric current zone and provide him first aid.

An employee who has not yet reached the age of 18 cannot get a third group.

Tolerance level number four

A fourth access group may be assigned to employees assigned to electrical personnel. The procedure for its award is the same as in the case of the third admission group. An employee with a fourth group has a much wider border of law.

He can deal with maintenance of installations above 1000 V, issue orders based on the approved list of works in these power plants. He is also allowed to issue orders for any work in the EA up to 1000 V. If there is an entry “up to and above 1000 V” in the certificate, the employee can be appointed as the head, the producer of works, allowing.

The right to train young specialists directly at the workplace is reserved only to those employees who, after appropriate training, are certified for the fourth admission group

Before officially obtaining this responsible group for electrical safety, a specialist with a higher education should work for the third group for two months. If a person does not have such an education, but he has a third group and has worked on it for at least six months, he can also be certified for the fourth group. Trainees do not assign a fourth group.

For the fourth group, the necessary knowledge includes the program for the previous three groups, as well as:

• knowledge in electrical engineering, corresponding to the full program of specialized vocational schools;
• knowledge of electrical and fire safety, electrical installations in the volume corresponding to the position;
• experience in reading diagrams and conducting briefings;
• the ability to train employees in the approved program on electrical safety and real methods of providing initial medical care.

For such an employee in the exam apply more stringent and increased requirements.

Fifth admission group

The fifth group is assigned to the contingent that manages all the electric facilities of the enterprise, organization, its structural divisions, organizes maintenance and repair work, oversees reconstruction, and plans for the development of the energy sector.

This table shows all the information on the topic. The required minimum length of service is displayed here to get the next group.

This group can be assigned according to the final certification in Rostekhnadzor.An employee with the 5th admission group issues orders and orders, acts as the admitting, managing person, and contractor in any electrical installations. A prerequisite is the presence in the certificate of a record “up to and above 1000 V”.

Higher education in the electrical field gives the right to try to get the fifth group after the expiration of a period of three months. A person who does not have such a good reason can be certified for the fifth group, having worked 24 months in the fourth group.

Group number five suggests that the specialist has a large amount of knowledge:

• on the layout of electrical equipment given to him;
• thorough reading of schemes;
• safety rules and practical use of protective equipment;
• timing of testing protective equipment;
• requirements of standards for fire and electrical safety.

The employee must have the ability to clarify existing standards during the briefing. Also, the specialist is obliged to organize and manage work of any complexity in electrical installations.

Recertification is carried out once a year or once every three years. It all depends on the position.

Admission Group Certificate Content

The document confirming the possession of the admission - certificate. It indicates the profession or position, group, number and result of tests, the date of the next certification.

The title page of the certificate indicates the name of the specialist, his name and patronymic, as well as his place of work and position. Must indicate category

First of all, the document issued by the relevant commission contains information on certification of electrical safety.

Under the category mean repair or operational, AT personnel, operational and repair, ATP, having the right on a post.

On the first sheet should be the seal of the company, the signature of the person responsible for the electrical sector. The certificate of the latter shall be certified by the head of the enterprise with his signature.

The record that the employee is authorized to perform special work - at a height, for example, or to take measurements, tests in the EA, is made on the front page.

For this, the electrician’s certificate of admission on the last page has a table entitled “Certificate for the right to carry out special work”.

Conclusions and useful video on the topic

How to correctly allow the team to work in an electrical installation:

Assignment conditions for the first group:

No enterprise will be able to work successfully in the electric power industry if its management does not pay enough attention to the requirements put forward by the legislation regarding the level of personnel certification.

A very important point in the field of electrical safety is both the timely training of employees and the assignment of access groups. The main thing is that the assigned groups clearly correspond to the job duties of a particular employee.

Did you pass recertification the other day and were assigned an admission group? Share your experiences with newcomers in the comments below this article.

If you are proficient in the topic of assignment of electrical safety groups and want to supplement the above material with useful comments or corrections, please write all the additions in the comments section.