The completion of a High Voltage Course is required for personnel to be compliant with health and safety legislation, including Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (EAW). Basically, your employer has a duty to train you in any activity that is deemed hazardous, in this case high voltage electricity.
The Electricity at Work Regulation 16 refers to people having ‘adequate knowledge and/or experience of electricity’ and ROV technicians therefore need to have a fundamental understanding of the dangers that come with working with electricity.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) use this regulation as a basis for their guidelines and code of practise that are issued to industry.
Electricity at Work regulations do not define High Voltage and Low Voltage as being different. They do not therefore specify a training syllabus to train people to be safe in the workplace, and therefore this falls on industry bodies such as the IMO and IMCA.
The Health and Safety at Work Act is an overarching piece of legislation that covers occupational health and safety in the workplace. It places duty of care on both employers and employees. Similar legislation exists in other countries, for example, Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) in the US, Work Safe and Healthy (WHS) in Australia and The Framework Directive 89/391/EEC in the European Union
In the UK the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 consists of a number of items that cover all aspects of electrical work and are designed to ensure electrical safety compliance across industry
Employers must ensure their personnel are therefore adequately trained and safe to work with and around electricity. The Electricity at Work Regulations form a good basis on which to set a training syllabus.
In addition, HSE guidance note 85 (safe Working Practice with Electricity) offers practical guidelines on how to satisfy the Electricity at Work Regulations
A training syllabus should therefore be based on the Electricity at Work regulations however also include specific industry best practice to ensure that it is relevant to the workforce. IMCA R005 is an example of a guideline that is incorporated in to the MTCS ROV High Voltage Training Course.
Freelance personnel also have responsibility to ensure they follow this training requirement. Whilst they are not directly employed, they have a degree of responsibility for both themselves and the people they work with.
The MTCS High Voltage course follows IMCA guidelines R005 – Guidance on Safety Procedures for Isolation of ROV High Voltage Equipment (above 1㎸).
