The Electrical Accreditation in 10 points

Are concerned all the workers directly or indireclty exposed to the electrical risks.

Electricity is invisible and is often presented in a complicated way.
It is difficult to grasp it safely without being trained.
Electricity-related accident data are particular (few accidents but often lethal).

Number of electricity-related accidents at work (with lost time incidence)

Number of PD (Permanent Disabilities) and number of deaths

Accidents at work in 2006

One will note the greater percent of deaths following an electricity-related accident at work than all the accidents at work.
Every year, 4% of the workers are victims of an accident at work.

AW > Accident at work  /  LTI > Lost Time Incidence  /  PD > Permanent Disability

Origins of the Accidents at Work in 2007

On constate :

• Electricity-related accident at work constitutes: 838/720150 = 1.2 for 1000 of all the accidents at work
• Electricity-related accident at work constitutes: 11/622 = 18 deaths for 1000 accidents

AW > Accident at work  /  LTI > Lost Time Incidence  /  PD > Permanent Disability  /  TD > Temporary Disability

In other words:

Main accident occurrence conditions:

Responsibility of the different stakeholders

The legal responsibility and critical thinking about safety

Whatever are the legal responsibilities of each stakeholder, and their wish to respect the rules (from the safety point of view), each one personally guarantees his/her own security.  

One must have a critical thinking about safety in order to properly face working situations in which safety prescriptions are threatened. 


PPEs (Personal Protection Equipments) 

Responsibility consisting in maintaining PPEs (and tools)  in good condition:

• the operator and the work supervisor

Responsibility of the condition and wearing of the PPEs:

• the accreditated individual

The right to withdraw

Any employee (or group of employees) being in a working situation for which he/she has reasonable grounds to think that it presents a serious and imminent risk for his/her life or health, can notify the employer and remove himself/hersel from this situation, making sure not to create a new situation of serious and imminent risk for others.

Responsibility of the manager in case of subcontracting

Case of external companies 

When the employer assigns electrical works to external companies, he has to make sure that they are qualified, that is:

• they are registered in the commercial register and trades register as electrical work companies or they have the specific services responsible for the provision and maintenance of the material electrical equipments they manufacture or install,
• their employees have been trained in the knowledge of the electrical risks and means to protect themselves and possess a relevant accreditation title, provided by the external company.

It is also mandatory, whatever the work duration, for the user company and the external company operating consult in order to protect oneself against all risks, resulting from their co-activity, including the electrical risk. 


Case of agency temporary staff 

The user manager of the company has, when calling on agency temporary staff:

• to check that the staff has obtained the required training for performing electrical or non-electrical duties they will be assigned,
• or to provide hem this training, in order to accreditate them.

The NFC18-510 (electrical accreditation) training does not consitute by itself the reinforced training. 

The company will have to organize the practice training of the temporary agency on the company installations or similar installations.  

In practical terms, the use of a temporary employee requires the following documents:

• a mission request form provided by the user company indicating: the employee desired professionnal skills (required accreditation),
• a form to be fulfilled by the temporary work agency (TWA) and aiming at providing all usefull information (training, already performed operations, previously obtained accreditations...) to the user company for accreditation. This document shall make it possible to check, notably, if the proposed employee has attended or not the accreditation initial training.  

It should be emphasized the following:

• this training aiming at upgrading the general theorical knowledge in terms of security, does not exempt the user company:
  • to check the knowledge of the agency temporary employee,
  • to provide the employee the reception and required training to adapt to the workstation,
  • to check that the agency temporary employee possess the prescription note based on the UTE C 18-510.
• the accreditation is provided by the user company solely for the mission assigned to the temporary employee.

Normal periodicity

The refresher training is to be provided at a periodicity to be defined according to the performed duties:

• operation complexity, or frequency,
• material technological evolution,
• diversity (for instance: external company agent).

The suggested periodicity is of 3 years, this periodicity will be notified by the employer. An annual check of the accreditation levels is recommended.
For live workings, the title is valid for 1 year.

Particular case

A refresher training is to be planned in the following cases:

• at any change of the duties,
• at any structure modification of the electric power supply and distribution network, in the case of a one company permanent staff.

Technical qualification

This qualification is required to provide a quality work and to safely perform the duties.

Medical fitness

Any employee has to possess a certificate of fitness to perform the assigned duties, provided by the occupational physician in the general course of the regulatory inspections (Labour Code).
To do so, the occupational physician will be notified, if applicable, of the electricity-related duties assigned to the employees so that he/she can adapt, by himself, the considered useful medical exams.

From among the recommended exams, the following can be mentioned:

• colour vision trouble screening,
• movement coordination for individuals to be R, V, N or T accreditated
• and electrocardiogram.

Electrical safety training

Theoretical training 
The UTE C 18-510 booklet contains the requisite elements for this training. However, the later has to adapt to:

• the installation features (complexity, variability),
• the initial skills and future attributions of the staff to be accreditated.

To this end, a previous analyze of the company needs is necessary to precisely define the required grade(s) of accreditation.

The content of the training model previously proposed can be optimized:

• bearing in mind the trainee level,
• and the company objectives,

after opinion of a qualified individual and in particular:

• from the trainer, after installation inspection in case of intra-company training,
• members of the CHSCT (French health, safety and working conditions comittee).

Practice training

• Put into practice of the gained theoretical knowledge, if possible on the company installation, or on similar installations,
• Reminder of the installation features and of the used material.

Training certificate

At the end of the training, the trainee will receive, from the trainer, a certificate in which will be mentioned in particular:

• the trainee's name and forename,
• the type of training and its actual duration,
• the success or failure of the trainee at the end of the final duration, explicitly mentioned

The trainer will give the employer an opinion helping him to define the content of the accreditation title according to the performed work and will precise the evaluation criteria.

Additional training

In case of accreditation grade change, an additional training corresponding to the required grade will be necessary.

Providing of the accreditation title

The accreditation title is provided by the employer according to:

• the technical knowledge of the individual to be accreditated,
• the medical fitness of the individual to be accreditated,
• the trainer certificate.

In the accreditation title, are to be defined:

• the accreditation grade,
• the authorized duties,
• the authorized geographical areas, installations or/and yards.

It also necessarily includes:

• information concerning the identity of the employer and his/her signature,
• information concerning the identity of the title holder and his/her signature,
• the notification of the accreditation delivery date,
• the accreditation validity duration.

The content of the title will comply with the model presented in the UTE C18-510 booklet.
The employer will give the employee the prescription book based on the UTE C 18-510 booklet.

Practice experience

It is recommended, within a short time period after delivery of the accreditation title, for the company permanent staff, to perform the duties assigned by his/her employer with the accompanying of a skilled and accreditated individual (at a sufficient grade).

This period duration, defined by the business manager, shall be adapted to the complexity of the installations, the qualification, the professional experience of the staff.

For temporary staff, this duration matches the practice experience gained during different missions on similar installations.

Very important: 

In case of live working, a specific training has to be provided by a body recognied by the French Live working comitee "Comité des travaux sous tension" (EDF, Délégation à la prévention et à la gestion des risques, 54 avenue Robert-Schuman, BP 1246, 68054 Mulhouse cedex, FRANCE. Tel. : +33 (0)3 89 35 22 04).

The intervention methods have to be defined and a relevant material provided.

The employer has to ensure that his/her staff still have the required knowledge and skills to perform safely the assigned duties. The NFC 18-510 calls for a refresher every 3 years. The electrical accreditation refresher aims to refresh and even complete the staff knowledge and know-how. However, this recommendation can be reduced to 2 years in the case of a casual or exceptional practice.

Every year, has to follow up and ensure that his/her employee electrical accreditations comply with the foreseable developments of the operations performed by his/her staff or the installations handled by the same. If it is not compliant, the employer can:
- return to a duty complying with the electrical accreditation held by his/her staff;
- reassign the duty to a worker holding the corresponding electrical accreditation;
- complete his/her employee training so that he/she has the requisite skills to perform the duty and modify his/her title.

In specific cases, a refresher training is necessary, such as:
- if the employer notes a non-respect of the safey procedures due to a lack of knowledge;
- the development of the workin methods;
- the cessation of the operations for 6 months at least;
- the technological evolution of the materials;
- the evolution of the regulation.

BE CAREFUL! A refresher training does not allow to raise the initial electrical accreditation grade, it has to be presented to te trainer at te begining of the training.