What is an Electrical Maintenance Program (EMP)?

Electrical maintenance programs (EMPs) are critical for ensuring the safe and reliable operation of electrical systems in any facility, including our solar and storage sites. In this quick and informative breakdown, HeatSpring instructor Alex Jahp explores the fundamental requirements of EMPs under NFPA 70B and what it means for equipment owners and maintenance teams. 

Whether you’re new to operations and maintenance or updating your existing program to meet the new standard, understanding these core principles is crucial for maximizing uptime, reducing costs, and ensuring safety.

Transcript below.

Let’s get started by talking about the fundamentals of an electrical maintenance plan. NFPA 70B requires that an equipment owner implement and document an overall electrical maintenance program that directs activity appropriate to the safety and operational risks for the site. 

Essentially, it says that equipment needs to be maintained properly, by trained technicians capable of safely performing the work, and it needs to be documented.

There are a few key high level considerations that must be kept in mind for any electrical maintenance program. The standard requires that equipment is maintained in accordance with manufacturer instructions, as well as applicable codes and standards. It is also necessary to take into account equipment and site specific considerations, such as any safety risks for personnel and the risk posed to operations by failure or downtime. We are going to see this requirement repeatedly, as it’s woven into the standard in many places, and a significant amount of flexibility is created to modify the electrical maintenance program accordingly. 

As we discussed before, NFPA 70, 70E, and 70B all lean on one another to ensure that electrical installations are safely installed, operated, and maintained. An EMP is designed to function in conjunction with an electrical safety program, which means a safety program that’s structured around NFPA 70E, The Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace.  

Electrical installations vary significantly in terms of type, equipment, and condition, meaning that an electrical maintenance program needs to integrate manufacturer requirements to cover the breadth of what is out there. This is a crucial aspect of the standard. It is not intended to duplicate or supersede manufacturers instructions, and instead requires that they’re actually followed. 

But what do we do if the manufacturer doesn’t provide any instructions or maintenance requirements? 

First of all, we need to be absolutely certain that this is true by verifying it with the manufacturer. If the manufacturer truly doesn’t provide any instructions or maintenance requirements, then  you can refer to industry consensus standards such as NFPA 70B itself, ANSI/NETA Maintenance Testing Standard [ANSI/NETA Standard for Maintenance Testing Specifications for Electrical Power Equipment and Systems], or the various sections of IEC 62446.