Chapter 1
Chapter 1
This study guide covers all eleven sections of the IHSA Line Clearing Operations Safe Practice Guide, which is one of three chapters tested on the Utility Arborist four four four B Certificate of Qualification exam. The guide is organized to mirror the structure of the official IHSA document, Section one through Section eleven, so you can study one section at a time, in any order, and easily cross-reference the source material.
Before we get into the rules themselves, let's go over the kinds of call out boxes you'll see throughout this material, because each one means something different. A CRITICAL call out is used for where the rule is highly likely to appear on the exam. Treat these as non-negotiable. An EXAM TIP call out is used to highlight specific exam strategies, common test traps, and information about how a concept is typically tested. Look for these to focus your study time efficiently. A CROSS-REFERENCE call out is used to show how a concept connects to other rules within Line Clearing Operations, or to the other two chapters of the curriculum, which are Arborists in Proximity and Electrical Utility Safety Rules. Many exam questions test these connections. And a NOTE call out is used for clarifying context, practical examples, terminology explanations, and background information that supports the rule but isn't a rule in itself.
Now, before we even get into the sections, we need to go over the definitions used throughout this chapter. The following terms appear repeatedly in this chapter and on the certification exam. Master these definitions before moving into the rule sections.
"Apparatus" means all equipment pertaining to the generation, transmission, distribution and use of electrical power.
"Authorized Worker or Workers" means a worker who has been given formal permission by the owner and employer, and is competent to perform work in proximity to equipment energized at voltages greater than seven hundred fifty volts nominal.
"Competent Person" means someone who, (a), is qualified by knowledge, training and experience to organize work and its performance; (b), is familiar with the O H S A and Regulations that apply to the work; and (c), has knowledge of any potential or actual danger to health or safety in the workplace.
"Controlling Authority" means the person or persons responsible for performing, directing or authorizing changes in conditions or position of specific apparatus or devices.
"De-energized" means where electrical energy has been discharged through a mechanically-secure connection to an effective ground potential.
"Energized" means capable of delivering energy by reason of being dynamically alive or charged.
"Isolated" means separated from all sources of dynamic energy.
"Proximity" means within: (a), three meters, or ten feet, of apparatus energized above seven hundred fifty volts to one hundred fifty kilovolts; (b), four point five meters, or fifteen feet, of apparatus energized above one hundred fifty kilovolts to two hundred fifty kilovolts; (c), six meters, or twenty feet, of apparatus energized above two hundred fifty kilovolts. This definition does NOT apply to apparatus designed and installed to be intrinsically safe for human touch.
"Supervisor" means a person who has charge over a workplace or authority over a worker.
And "Worker or Workers" means a person who performs work or supplies services for monetary compensation.
Now here is your first exam tip. Memorize the Proximity distances. These three distances, three meters, four point five meters, and six meters, tied to voltage ranges of greater than seven hundred fifty volts to one hundred fifty kilovolts; greater than one hundred fifty kilovolts to two hundred fifty kilovolts; and greater than two hundred fifty kilovolts, underlay almost every rule about working near energized apparatus throughout all three chapters of the curriculum.
Section one, General.
Section one, General.
Section one lays out the foundational requirements that apply to every line clearing job: who can perform the work, how it must be planned, when it must be suspended, and the basic methods that apply throughout. This section is the most heavily cross-referenced part of the chapter, because concepts introduced here reappear in nearly every later section.