Electrical authorization is now a regulatory requirement for all workers who perform operations on electrical installations or in their vicinity. It requires prior training. It is the recognition, by an employer, of a person's ability to safely perform the tasks set. Accreditation is not directly linked to hierarchical position or professional classification. The authorization is materialized by a document established by the employer and signed by the employer and the authorized person. However, the issuance of an electrical authorization by the employer does not relieve the employer of responsibility. The authorization does not, in itself, authorize a holder to carry out on his own initiative the operations for which he is authorized. He must also be appointed by his employer to carry out these operations. Assignment to a workstation may be an implicit designation. This recognition of authorization requires: -knowledge and preparation of tasks set taking into account the condition of the installations -compliance with the conditions mentioned in the next chapter.
All workers exposed directly or indirectly to electrical risks are concerned.
Electricity is invisible and often comes in a complicated way. It is difficult to apprehend it safely without training. The accident of electricity is particular (few accidents, but very fatal).
Very important: for work carried out under tension, specific training must be provided by an organization approved by the Committee for Working under tension (EDF, Delegation for Prevention and Risk Management, 54 Avenue Robert-Schuman, 54 Avenue Robert-Schuman, BP 1246, BP 1246, BP 1246, 68054 Mulhouse Cedex). Tel.: 03 89 35 22 04). Intervention procedures must be defined and appropriate equipment provided.
First category
Activities: No electrical operation is carried out but access to areas or locations with specific electrical risks (access reserved for electricians).
Workers: Painter, mason, locksmith, cleaning agent... not rearming the circuit breaker, no lamp replacement, fuse... but only painting work, masonry (ex: taking photos, meter readings, etc.)
Symbol: B0, H0, H0V
Duration of the training: 1 day
Second category
Activities: Basic intervention on terminal circuits (max 400V and 32A alternating current).
Types of operations: replacement and connection of water heaters, convectors, shutters, shutters, shutters, shutters, heating circulator pump, etc., replacement of LV fuses, protective reset, identical replacement of a lamp, a socket base, a switch, connection to terminal blocks (dominoes,...) pending, rearming a protective device
Workers: Building caretaker, heating engineer, plumber, painter,...
Symbol: BS, BP
Duration of the training: 2 days
Third category
Activities: Maneuvers of electrical equipment to reset a circuit breaker, thermal relay,... Switch off or on an equipment, an installation
Workers: Computer scientists, caretakers, production personnel who only perform this type of maneuver
Symbol: BE Maneuver
Duration of the training: 2 days
Fourth category
Activities: General maintenance and repair intervention on circuits (max 1000V and 63A alternating current).
Types of operations: search for faults, malfunctions, carrying out measurements, tests, maneuvers, replacement of defective equipment (relay, terminal block,...), partial and temporary commissioning of an installation, connection and disconnection in the presence of voltage (maximum 500V in alternating current)
Workers: Confirmed electrician in the maintenance department, convenience store, etc.
Symbol: BR
Duration of the training: 3 days
Fifth category
Activities: (new) work on electrical structures and installations.
Types of operations: creation, modification of an electrical installation, replacement of a box, electrical cabinet, marking the work area, supervision of electrical personnel, verification of the proper execution of the work (only for the person in charge of), etc.
Symbol: Performer - B1, H1 and Charged (responsible) - B2, H2
Duration of the training: 3 days low voltage & 1 day high voltage
Sixth category
Activities: Consignment of an electrical work or installation in low or high voltage.
Symbol: BC, HC
Duration of the training: 3 days
Seventh category
Activities: Installation of photovoltaic installations
Symbol: BP
Duration of the training: 2 days
Eighth category
Activities: Other operations such as tests, verifications, measurements on electrical equipment.
Symbol: BE Test, BE Measure, BE Verification
Duration of the training: 3 days
Responsibility of the various stakeholders
Legal responsibility and a critical sense of security
Regardless of the real legal responsibilities of each stakeholder, and their willingness to comply with regulations (from a safety perspective), everyone is ultimately responsible for their own safety. It is necessary to have a critical sense of safety in order to deal appropriately with work situations in which safety regulations are undermined.
PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)
Responsibility for the supply and condition of PPE (and tools): the operator and the construction manager
Responsibility for the condition and the wearing of PPE: the authority
The right to withdraw
Any employee (or group of employees) who is in a work situation that he has reasonable cause to believe presents a serious and imminent danger to his life or health, has the possibility of informing the employer and of withdrawing from this situation, provided, however, that he does not create a new situation of serious and imminent risk for others.
Responsibility of the operator in case of subcontracting
The case of external companies
When the employer entrusts electrical work to external companies, he must ensure that they are qualified, that is to say that:
- they are registered in the commercial register or in the register of trades as electrical work companies or that they have specific services responsible for the construction and maintenance of electrical equipment and materials that they manufacture or install,
- its employees have been trained in the knowledge of electrical risks and the means to protect themselves from them and have an appropriate certification, issued by the external company.
It is also mandatory, regardless of the duration of the work, that the user company and the external company involved work together in order to protect themselves against all risks resulting from their co-activity, including electrical risk.
Case of interim staff
When using interim staff, the manager of the user company must:
- Verify that these personnel have received the necessary training to perform the electrical or non-electrical tasks that will be assigned to them,
- Or bring it to him, in order to issue him an authorization.
Electrical certification training alone does not constitute reinforced training. The company must also ensure the practical training of the temporary worker on the company's facilities or similar installations.
In practice, the use of a temporary employee requires the following documents:
- an assignment request form drawn up by the user company specifying: the desired professional qualification of the employee (the required authorization),
- a form to be completed by the temporary employment company (ETT) and intended to give all the useful information (training, operations already carried out, authorizations obtained previously...) to the user company in order to obtain authorization.
This document must make it possible to verify in particular whether or not the proposed employee has received the preparatory training for the authorization.
It should be emphasized: that the authorization is issued by the user company only for the mission that is entrusted to the temporary employee, and that this training aimed at upgrading general theoretical knowledge in the field of security, does not exempt the user company from:
- to check the knowledge of the temporary employee,
- to provide the reception and training necessary for adaptation to the workplace,
- to check that the temporary employee is in possession of the prescription book based on the UTE C 18-510.
Normal periodicity
Refresher training is to be provided at a frequency to be defined according to the tasks performed:
- complexity, or frequency of operations,
- technological evolution of equipment,
- diversity (for example: external contractor).
The suggested frequency is 3 years. This frequency will be specified by the employer. An annual check of certification levels is recommended.
For work under tension, the validity of the permit is 1 year.
Special cases
Recycling is to be expected in the following cases:
- at each change of assignment,
- at each modification of the structure of the electrical supply and distribution network, in the case of permanent fixed company personnel.
It is the employer's responsibility to ensure that its staff always have the knowledge and skills necessary to carry out the tasks assigned to them safely. The NFC 18-510 recommends a retraining every 3 years. The retraining The purpose of electrical accreditation is to refresh, or even complete, the knowledge and know-how of the staff. However, this recommendation can be reduced to 2 years in the case of an occasional or exceptional practice.
Every year, the employer must monitor and ensure that the electrical authorizations held by his staff are in line with the foreseeable changes in the operations carried out or the installations handled by his staff. If suitability was not ensured, the employer can:
- return to a task in accordance with the electrical authorization held by its staff;
- reassign the task to another worker who has the right electrical authorization;
- complete the worker's training so that he can acquire the skills necessary to perform this task and modify his title.
There are some specific cases that require a refresher session; such as
- if the employer notes non-compliance with safety procedures due to a lack of knowledge;
- the evolution of working methods;
- the interruption of the practice of operations for a minimum of 6 months;
- the technological evolution of equipment;
- regulatory developments.
CAREFUL! Retraining does not raise the level of initial electrical certification, which must be presented to the trainer at the beginning of the course.
Technical qualification
This qualification is necessary to ensure the quality of work and to perform tasks safely.
Medical fitness
Every employee must hold an opinion of fitness to perform the work assigned, issued by the occupational physician, as part of the general framework of regulatory inspections (labour code).
To do this, the occupational physician will be informed, if necessary, of the electrical tasks assigned to employees so that he can adapt, at his initiative, the medical examinations deemed useful.
Some of the recommended exams include:
- the detection of possible color vision disorders,
- the coordination of movements for persons intended to be authorized in the R, V, N or T index
- and the electrocardiogram.
Electrical safety training
Theoretical training
The UTE C 18-510 compendium contains the elements necessary for this training. However, the latter must be adapted to:
- particularities of the installations (complexity, variability),
- initial competencies and future responsibilities of the staff to be empowered.
To do this, it is necessary to analyze the needs of the company beforehand in order to define exactly the level of authorization required.
The content of the standard training proposed above can be optimized:
- having regard to the levels of the trainees,
- and to the objectives of the company,
after the advice of competent persons and in particular:
- the trainer after visiting the facilities in the case of intra-company training,
- members of the CHSCT.
Practical training
- Putting into practice the theoretical knowledge acquired, if possible on the company's installations, if not on similar installations,
- Reminder of the particularities of the installations and the equipment used.
Training certificate
At the end of the training, the trainee will receive a certificate from the trainer in which the following will be mentioned in particular:
- the name and first name of the trainee,
- the type of internship and its effective duration,
- whether or not the trainee passed the final evaluation, explicitly mentioned
The trainer will provide the employer with an opinion helping him to define the content of the qualification according to the work carried out and will specify the evaluation criteria.
Complementary internship
In the event of a change in the level of qualification, an additional internship corresponding to the required level will be necessary.
Issuance of the authorization title
The authorization document is issued by the employer based on:
- the technical knowledge of the person to be authorized,
- the medical capacity of the person to be authorized,
- the trainer's certificate.
In the authorization title, the following must be defined:
- the level of empowerment,
- authorized tasks,
- the geographical sectors, installations and/or authorized sites.
It also necessarily includes:
- the employer's identity information and signature,
- the identity information of the holder and his signature,
- an indication of the date of issue of the authorization,
- the validity period of the authorization.
The content of this title will be in accordance with the model presented in the collection UTE C 18-510.
The employer will give the employee the prescription book based on the UTE C 18-510 compendium.
Practical experience
It is recommended that, for a short period of time, permanent permanent staff of fixed companies be able, after the issuance of the authorization document, to carry out the tasks assigned to them by their employer with the permanent advice of a qualified and authorized person at a sufficient level.
The duration of this period, defined by the company manager, will be adapted to the complexity of the installations, the qualification, the professional experience of the staff.
For temporary employees, this duration corresponds to the practical experience acquired during various missions on similar installations.
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