Ever since its first edition in 1979, NFPA 70E, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace, has been considered a national consensus standard for electrical safety. It covers the full range of electrical safety issues, from work practices to maintenance, special equipment requirements and installation.

The first several editions of the standard, originally titled "Standard for Electrical Safety Requirements for Employee Workplaces," primarily focused on the prevention of electrocution. In the 1995 edition, arc flash hazards started to be addressed with addition of "arc flash hazard boundaries." Through extensive work, more details on protecting workers against arc flash hazards have been included in the 2000 and 2004 editions.

The current edition of NFPA 70E is organized into four chapters and a series of annexes designed to provide guidance on how to implement various aspects of an electrical safety program:

• Chapter 1: Safety Related Work Practices
• Chapter 2: Safety Related Maintenance Requirements
• Chapter 3: Safety Requirements for Special Equipment
• Chapter 4: Installation Safety Requirements
• Annexes A-M

The Safety Related Work Practices chapter of NFPA 70E provides guidelines for:

• Developing safety-related work practices, including
  • A safety program with defined responsibilities
  • Training for workers
• Establishing electrically safe work conditions
• Working on or near live parts, including:
  • Performing electrical hazard and flash hazard analyses
  • Selecting personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers

Chapter 1 outlines the requirements of employers whose employees are to work on equipment that has not been placed into an "electrically safe work condition." One of these requirements is to perform an arc flash hazard analysis, which enables the employer to determine the flash-protection boundary and the type of PPE needed.