Telecommunications

Scope

OSHA’s telecommunication requirements set forth safety and health standards that apply to the work conditions, practices, means, methods, operations, installations and processes performed at telecommunications centers and at telecommunications field installations, which are located outdoors or in building spaces used for such field installations. Center work includes the installation, operation, maintenance, rearrangement, and removal of communications equipment and other associated equipment in telecommunications switching centers. Field work includes the installation, operation, maintenance, rearrangement, and removal of conductors and other equipment used for signal or communication service, and of their supporting or containing structures, overhead or underground, on public or private rights of way, including buildings or other structures.

Regulatory citations

• 29 CFR 1910.268 — Telecommunications
• Note: If doing construction work involving telecommunications, the 1926 regulations will apply rather than 1910.268.

Key definitions

• Aerial lifts: Aerial lifts include the following types of vehicle-mounted aerial devices used to elevate personnel to jobsites above ground: (1) Extensible boom platforms, (2) Aerial ladders, (3) Articulating boom platforms, (4) Vertical towers, and
  (5) A combination of any of the above defined in ANSI A92.2-1969, which is incorporated by reference as specified in 1910.6. These devices are made of metal, wood, fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP), or other material; are powered or manually operated; and are deemed to be aerial lifts whether or not they are capable of rotating about a substantially vertical axis.
• Aerial splicing platform: This consists of a platform, approximately 3 ft. X 4 ft., used to perform aerial cable work. It is furnished with fiber or synthetic ropes for supporting the platform from aerial strand, detachable guy ropes for anchoring it, and a device for raising and lowering it with a handline.
• Aerial tent: A small tent usually constructed of vinyl coated canvas which is usually supported by light metal or plastic tubing. It is designed to protect employees in inclement weather while working on ladders, aerial splicing platforms, or aerial devices.
• Alive or live (energized): Electrically connected to a source of potential difference, or electrically charged so as to have a potential significantly different from that of the earth in the vicinity. The term “live” is sometimes used in the place of the term “current-carrying,” where the intent is clear, to avoid repetition of the longer term.
• Barricade: A physical obstruction such as tapes, cones, or “A” frame type wood and/or metal structure intended to warn and limit access to a work area.
• Barrier: A physical obstruction which is intended to prevent contact with energized lines or equipment, or to prevent unauthorized access to work area.
• Bond: An electrical connection from one conductive element to another for the purpose of minimizing potential differences or providing suitable conductivity for fault current or for mitigation of leakage current and electrolytic action.
• Cable: A conductor with insulation, or a stranded conductor with or without insulation and other coverings (single-conductor cable), or a combination of conductors insulated from one another (multiple-conductor cable).
• Cable sheath: A protective covering applied to cables. Note: A cable sheath may consist of multiple layers of which one or more is conductive.
• Circuit: A conductor or system of conductors through which an electric current is intended to flow.
• Communication lines: The conductors and their supporting or containing structures for telephone, telegraph, railroad signal, data, clock, fire, police-alarm, community television antenna and other systems which are used for public or private signal or communication service, and which operate at potentials not exceeding 400 volts to ground or 750 volts between any two points of the circuit, and the transmitted power of which does not exceed 150 watts. When communications lines operate at less than 150 volts to ground, no limit is placed on the capacity of the system. Specifically designed communications cables may include communication circuits not complying with the preceding limitations, where such circuits are also used incidentally to supply power to communication equipment.
• Conductor: A material, usually in the form of a wire, cable, or bus bar, suitable for carrying an electric current.
• Effectively grounded: Intentionally connected to earth through a ground connection or connections of sufficiently low impedance and having sufficient current-carrying capacity to prevent the build-up of voltages which may result in undue hazard to connected equipment or to persons.
• Equipment: A general term which includes materials, fittings, devices, appliances, fixtures, apparatus, and similar items used as part of, or in connection with, a supply or communications installation.
• Ground (reference): That conductive body, usually earth, to which an electric potential is referenced.
• Ground (as a noun): A conductive connection, whether intentional or accidental, by which an electric circuit or equipment is connected to reference ground.
• Ground (as a verb): The connecting or establishment of a connection, whether by intention or accident, of an electric circuit or equipment to reference ground.
• Ground tent: A small tent usually constructed of vinyl coated canvas supported by a metal or plastic frame. Its purpose is to protect employees from inclement weather while working at buried cable pedestal sites or similar locations.
• Grounded conductor: A system or circuit conductor which is intentionally grounded.
• Grounded systems: A system of conductors in which at least one conductor or point (usually the middle wire, or the neutral point of transformer or generator windings) is intentionally grounded, either solidly or through a current-limiting device (not a current-interrupting device).
• Grounding electrode conductor: (Grounding conductor). A conductor used to connect equipment or the grounded circuit of a wiring system to a grounding electrode.
• Insulated: Separated from other conducting surfaces by a dielectric substance (including air space) offering a high resistance to the passage of current. Note: When any object is said to be insulated, it is understood to be insulated in suitable manner for the conditions to which it is subjected. Otherwise, it is, within the purpose of these rules, uninsulated. Insulating coverings of conductors in one means of making the conductor insulated.
• Insulation (as applied to cable): That which is relied upon to insulate the conductor from other conductors or conducting parts or from ground.
• Joint use: The sharing of a common facility, such as a manhole, trench or pole, by two or more different kinds of utilities (e.g., power and telecommunications).
• Ladder platform: A device designed to facilitate working aloft from an extension ladder. A typical device consists of a platform (approximately 9” X 18”) hinged to a welded pipe frame. The rear edge of the platform and the bottom cross-member of the frame are equipped with latches to lock the platform to ladder rungs.
• Ladder seat: A removable seat used to facilitate work at an elevated position on rolling ladders in telecommunication centers.
• Manhole: A subsurface enclosure which personnel may enter and which is used for the purpose of installing, operating, and maintaining submersible equipment and/or cable.
• Manhole platform: A platform consisting of separate planks which are laid across steel platform supports. The ends of the supports are engaged in the manhole cable racks.
• Microwave transmission: The act of communicating or signaling utilizing a frequency between 1 GHz (gigahertz) and 300 GHz inclusively.
• Nominal voltage: The nominal voltage of a system or circuit is the value assigned to a system or circuit of a given voltage class for the purpose of convenient designation. The actual voltage may vary above or below this value.
• Pole balcony or seat: A balcony or seat used as a support for workmen at pole-mounted equipment or terminal boxes. A typical device consists of a bolted assembly of steel details and a wooden platform. Steel braces run from the pole to the underside of the balcony. A guard rail (approximately 30” high) may be provided.
• Pole platform: A platform intended for use by a workman in splicing and maintenance operations in an elevated position adjacent to a pole. It consists of a platform equipped at one end with a hinged chain binder for securing the platform to a pole. A brace from the pole to the underside of the platform is also provided.
• Qualified employee: Any worker who by reason of his training and experience has demonstrated his ability to safely perform his duties.
• Qualified line-clearance tree trimmer: A tree worker who through related training and on-the-job experience is familiar with the special techniques and hazards involved in line clearance.
• Qualified line-clearance tree-trimmer trainee: Any worker regularly assigned to a line-clearance tree-trimming crew and undergoing on-the-job training who, in the course of such training, has demonstrated his ability to perform his duties safely at his level of training.
• System operator/owner:The person or organization that operates or controls the electrical conductors involved.
• Telecommunications center: An installation of communication equipment under the exclusive control of an organization providing telecommunications service, that is located outdoors or in a vault, chamber, or a building space used primarily for such installations. Note: Telecommunication centers are facilities established, equipped and arranged in accordance with engineered plans for the purpose of providing telecommunications service. They may be located on premises owned or leased by the organization providing telecommunication service, or on the premises owned or leased by others. This definition includes switch rooms (whether electromechanical, electronic, or computer controlled), terminal rooms, power rooms, repeater rooms, transmitter and receiver rooms, switchboard operating rooms, cable vaults, and miscellaneous communications equipment rooms. Simulation rooms of telecommunication centers for training or developmental purposes are also included.
• Telecommunications derricks: Rotating or nonrotating derrick structures permanently mounted on vehicles for the purpose of lifting, lowering, or positioning hardware and materials used in telecommunications work.
• Telecommunication line truck: A truck used to transport men, tools, and material, and to serve as a traveling workshop for telecommunication installation and maintenance work. It is sometimes equipped with a boom and auxiliary equipment for setting poles, digging holes, and elevating material or men.
• Telecommunication service: The furnishing of a capability to signal or communicate at a distance by means such as telephone, telegraph, police and fire alarm, community antenna television, or similar system, using wire, conventional cable, coaxial cable, wave guides, microwave transmission, or other similar means.
• Unvented vault: An enclosed vault in which the only openings are access openings.
• Vault: An enclosure above or below ground which personnel may enter, and which is used for the purpose of installing, operating, and/or maintaining equipment and/or cable which need not be of submersible design.
• Vented vault: An enclosure as described in paragraph(s) (42) of this section, with provision for air changes using exhaust flue stack(s) and low level air intake(s), operating on differentials of pressure and temperature providing for air flow.
• Voltage of an effectively grounded circuit: The voltage between any conductor and ground unless otherwise indicated.
• Voltage of a circuit not effectively grounded: The voltage between any two conductors. If one circuit is directly connected to and supplied from another circuit of higher voltage (as in the case of an autotransformer), both are considered as of the higher voltage, unless the circuit of lower voltage is effectively grounded, in which case its voltage is not determined by the circuit of higher voltage. Direct connection implies electric connection as distinguished from connection merely through electromagnetic or electrostatic induction.

Summary of requirements

Employers covered by 1910.268 must:

• Provide adequate lighting in telecommunications centers so that work operations, routine observations, and the passage of employees can be carried out in a safe manner.
• Ensure medical and first aid supplies are readily accessible to employees. Inspect each kit at least once per month.
• Train employees in the various precautions and safe practices as they relate to the telecommunications industry.
• Ensure warning signs, flags, or other traffic control devices are used near vehicular or pedestrian traffic, which may endanger employees.
• Provide tools, personal protective equipment, and protective devices necessary for employees to perform their work, and ensure their proper use.
• Provide rubber insulating equipment designed for the voltage levels encountered, and ensure their proper use.
• Provide personal climbing equipment and ensure their proper use. A positioning system or a personal fall arrest system must be provided and the employer must ensure their use when work is performed at positions more than 4 feet (1.2 m) above the ground, on poles, and on towers, except as provided in paragraphs 1910.268(n)(7) and (8). These systems must meet the applicable requirements in Subpart I. The employer must ensure that all climbing equipment is inspected before each day’s use to determine that it is in safe working condition.
• Protect employees during tower climbing operations. See https://www.osha.gov/doc/topics/communicationtower/index.html for more information.
• Provide ladders that meet the applicable requirements in Subpart D and train employees in their proper use.
• If doing construction work, follow applicable requirements in 29 CFR 1926.