NFPA 70B 2023 Changes
Hello
Looking for information on the 2023 revised requirements for NFPA 70B and how/if the changes will impact our business. Senior leaders have been getting emails from our electrical vendors about "compliance with the new required maintenance standard" which seem to indicate that we should have an electrical maintenance program (and of course hire the vendor to do all sorts of electrical testing for thousands of dollars). While I am familiar with 70E, I will have to admit that 70B is new territory for me.
I dove into the standard a bit and am a bit unclear as to the level of testing/maintenance that would need to be done if any. Hoping someone can give me the Cliff Notes version to help me better understand what is required vs. what the vendor is claiming we need to do.
Thanks
Comments (7)
NFPA 70E, Chapter 2 discusses some maintenance requirements, but nowhere near as in-depth as NFPA 70B. Overall, NFPA 70E Ch. 2 covers practical safety-related maintenance requirements for electrical equipment and installations in workplaces. These requirements identify only that maintenance directly associated with employee safety. NFPA 70B, on the other hand, provides information on commissioning and effective electrical maintenance programs (EMPs). Generally speaking, you should already have an electrical maintenance program developed.
The big change in NFPA 70B's new version is that most everything is now a standard (requirement) rather than recommendations. For example, the 2023 version now makes the inspection of ALL electrical equipment mandatory at least every 12 months, whereas the previous version was only recommended it in certain situations.
Below is a highlight of the update (cliff notes version). It's a more significant change than people might think. At the end of the day, it affects every host facility.
https://www.tuvsud.com/en-us/resource-centre/blogs/risk-engineering/nfpa-70b-2023-new-standard-for-electrical-equipment-and-infrared-testing#
:~:text=NFPA%2070B%20now%20makes%20the,at%20least%20every%2012%20months.
I actually was just looking at some information on this yesterday. I found a good website that is free to join and has some good information. Take a look at https://www.ecmweb.com/ they have some good podcasts on NFPA 70e and b .