Article 130 — everything you do when the hazard is still there.
If you could not establish an electrically safe work condition, this is the article that governs what happens next: whether the work is justified at all, what permit it needs, who else has to be standing there, and what you wear.
Article 130 was restructured in 2027. Scope text moved out of 130.1 into a new 130.2, and the energized electrical work permit moved from 130.2(B) to 130.3. The permit requirements did not change technically — but every procedure and form citing "130.2(B)" is now pointing at the wrong section.
§ Section map
Scope.
Work involving electrical hazards — justification, and the new additional person requirement at 130.2(A)(2).
Energized electrical work permit — moved here in 2027.
Electric shock risk assessment — limited and restricted approach boundaries, AC and DC.
Arc flash risk assessment — likelihood, incident energy analysis, PPE category method, labelling.
Other precautions for personnel activities.
Personal and other protective equipment.
Other precautions — housekeeping, conductive articles, clear spaces.
Work within the boundaries of overhead lines.
Underground electrical lines and equipment.
Cutting or drilling — walls, floors and ceilings.
Cutting, removing or rerouting conductors and circuit parts.
§ 130.2 — when energized work is actually justified
Energized work is permitted where de-energizing would introduce additional or increased hazards, or where it is infeasible due to equipment design or operational limitations. Work performed within the limited approach boundary or the arc flash boundary of energized parts must be justified on one of those grounds — or the equipment must be put in an electrically safe work condition.
- Additional or increased hazards — interrupting life support, shutting down emergency alarm or ventilation systems, de-energizing lighting in a space with no other illumination.
- Infeasibility due to design or operational limitations — the classic examples are testing that can only be performed energized, and troubleshooting that requires the circuit live.
- Normal operating condition — work such as operating a properly installed, maintained and closed piece of equipment is not "energized work" in this sense, provided all seven conditions are met: the equipment is properly installed; properly maintained; rated for the available fault current; used in accordance with its listing, labeling and the manufacturer’s instructions; doors are closed and secured; covers are in place and secured; and there is no evidence of impending failure.
"We can't take the load down" is not infeasibility. Business continuity is a commercial constraint, not an equipment design limitation. This is the single most common — and most expensive — misreading of 130.2 in critical facilities.
The irony is that redundancy usually makes de-energization more available, not less. A 2N facility is built so that one path can be taken out of service while the other carries load. That is precisely the argument for an ESWC on the path you are working.
Where energized work genuinely is justified in a data center: infrared scanning through a viewing window, power quality monitoring, and troubleshooting a fault that disappears when de-energized.
Blanket permits. A permit issued once a quarter covering "electrical maintenance in the switchgear room" is not a permit; it is a filing habit. The permit is per-task, and the justification has to be specific to that task.
§ 130.2(A)(2) — the additional person
Where an energized electrical work permit is required and specifies electric shock PPE, arc flash PPE, or both, at least one additional person trained in emergency response under 110.4(C)(1) must be present, positioned outside the limited approach boundary or the arc flash boundary, whichever is greater.
- They do not need to be a qualified electrical worker.
- They do need CPR, AED and release-from-contact training, and they need to know where the rescue equipment is.
- They must be outside the greater boundary — close enough to respond, far enough not to become the second casualty.
- It does not trigger where no permit is required, or where the permit specifies no PPE.
A lean overnight team of one critical facilities technician can no longer perform permitted energized work at all. Either the staffing plan changes, or the work waits for an ESWC. Add an Additional Person Designated field to your permit form, with the signature and their emergency response training date.
§ 130.3 — the energized electrical work permit
An EEWP documents what the work is, why it cannot be de-energized, and how the worker will be protected. At minimum it captures:
- Description of the circuit and equipment, and its location.
- Description of the work to be performed.
- Justification for why the work must be performed energized.
- Description of the safe work practices to be employed.
- Results of the shock risk assessment — voltage, limited and restricted approach boundaries, and the shock PPE.
- Results of the arc flash risk assessment — incident energy or PPE category, arc flash boundary, and the arc flash PPE.
- Means to restrict access by unqualified persons.
- Evidence of a completed job briefing, including discussion of job-specific hazards.
- Energized work approval signatures.
- The designated additional person — new practical requirement flowing from 130.2(A)(2).
Build a permit with the tool →
§ 130.4 — shock risk assessment
- Identify shock hazards, estimate likelihood and severity, and determine whether additional protective measures are required.
- Limited approach boundary — the distance from an exposed energized conductor within which a shock hazard exists. Unqualified persons may not cross it without a qualified escort.
- Restricted approach boundary — closer in, where the increased risk of shock due to arc-over combined with inadvertent movement begins. Only qualified persons wearing appropriate shock PPE, with a documented plan.
- Boundaries come from Table 130.4(E)(a) for AC and Table 130.4(E)(b) for DC, by system voltage. The 2027 edition adds high-altitude correction factors.
- Rubber insulating gloves must be rated for the maximum use voltage and tested at the intervals in Table 130.7(C)(7)(b).
§ 130.5 — arc flash risk assessment
Either the incident energy analysis method — a study gives you cal/cm² at a working distance, and you select PPE from Table 130.5(G) — or the arc flash PPE category method, using Tables 130.7(C)(15)(a) and (b). You may not use one method to get a number and the other to select the gear.
- The assessment must be updated when a major modification or renovation occurs, and reviewed at intervals not to exceed five years.
- The arc flash boundary is the distance at which incident energy equals 1.2 cal/cm² — the onset of a second-degree burn.
- Likelihood of an arc flash incident is estimated using Table 130.5(C)(3). The 2027 edition adds a battery system task, and the 1 mm-per-volt conductor separation rule for DC.
- Labelling — equipment likely to require examination, adjustment, servicing or maintenance while energized must be field-marked with nominal voltage, arc flash boundary, and either incident energy at a stated working distance or the PPE category.
- The table method has parameters. If your equipment exceeds the maximum fault current or clearing time in the table, or the working distance is different, the table does not apply and you need a study.
Table 130.5(C)(3) — likelihood of an arc flash incident
Before you get to PPE, you estimate likelihood. Table 130.5(C)(3) does that task by task. The rows that matter most in a data center:
| Task | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| Reading a panel meter while operating a meter switch | No |
| Infrared thermography and other non-contact inspections outside the restricted approach boundary, no door or cover opened | No |
| Work on control circuits ≤ 125 V ac/dc with no other exposed equipment above 125 V, including opening hinged covers | No |
| Examination of insulated cable with no manipulation | No |
| Operation of a circuit breaker, switch, contactor or starter — normal operating condition | No |
| Battery equipment below 600 V where conductor separation exceeds 1 mm per volt | No |
| Arc-resistant equipment, doors closed and secured, within its rated fault current and clearing time, for racking and insertion tasks | No |
| Operation of a circuit breaker, switch, contactor or starter — abnormal condition | Yes |
| Operation of a circuit breaker or switch the first time after installation or maintenance | Yes |
| Opening hinged doors, covers or bolted covers that expose bare energized parts — including DC battery terminal covers | Yes |
| Insertion or removal (racking) of breakers or starters from cubicles, doors open or closed | Yes |
| Insertion or removal of plug-in devices into or from busways | Yes |
| Insertion or removal of MCC starter buckets | Yes |
| Work on energized AC conductors or circuit parts, including electrical testing | Yes |
| Work on energized series-connected DC battery cell conductors, including testing | Yes |
| Application of temporary protective grounding, after the voltage test | Yes |
| Work on exposed control circuits above 120 V | Yes |
Three rows on that list are data center routine and land on the Yes side: racking a breaker with the door closed, inserting or removing a busway plug-in unit, and opening a battery terminal cover. Crews perform all three without thinking of them as energized work.
The incident energy on your label assumes the overcurrent protective device clears in the time the study assumed. A breaker that has not been tested or exercised in fifteen years may not. That is why 110.3(C) now points at Annex S and NFPA 70B, and why Chapter 2 is not optional reading.
§ 130.7 — personal and other protective equipment
| Hazard | Protection | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Shock | Rubber insulating gloves with leather protectors, insulated tools, insulating mats and blankets | Rated to maximum use voltage. Test intervals per Table 130.7(C)(7)(b) — 6 months in service for gloves |
| Arc flash | Arc-rated clothing and equipment, face shield with balaclava or arc flash suit hood, hearing protection, leather footwear | Arc rating must meet or exceed the incident energy at the working distance |
| Contact thermal | Thermal hand protection — 130.7(C)(7)(e), new in 2027 | Protects against burns from touching hot or energized surfaces. Not the same as rubber insulating gloves |
- 130.7(C)(14) conformity assessment changed. Supplier self-declaration was removed in 2027. Two methods remain: self-declaration under a registered quality management system with accredited laboratory testing, or third-party certification by an accredited body. PPE already marked under the old method stays permitted.
- Care and maintenance — inspect before each use, launder per the manufacturer, and retire anything with holes, contamination or damage that compromises the arc rating.
- Layering — arc-rated layers add protection; a meltable synthetic underneath makes an injury worse.
PPE category selector →
Work the tables, with the parameter limits shown.
The 2027 change list →
Everything that moved, with the sections.
Justification, permits, boundaries and PPE
The 8-hour qualified person class is built around the decisions in this article — with the 2027 additional person requirement worked into the permit exercise.
See the schedule Bring it onsite