Now that the 2021 Edition of NFPA 70E has been published, do you have a copy of the 2021 NFPA 70E Handbook?

Yes
It’s on order/planning to obtain a copy
No

Jim,

This looks like a prefect opportunity to ask the question: When is the new revision in effect?

I preach that since it's a National Consensus Safety Standard it's in effect as soon as it is issued.

Thanks

John

Hi John, hope you are doing well, my friend.

Unlike the NEC which is adopted for regulatory use by states, cities and counties, NFPA 70E is not adopted for regulatory use. 70E is referenced by other standards such as NEC (NFPA 70) and OSHA. NFPA 70E requires retraining to occur at intervals not to exceed every three years which means somewhere along the 3-year revision cycle, people will be (should be) trained on the latest edition.

From my personal expert witness experience (this is NOT legal advice) it is good to be using the latest edition and update the electrical safety program to reflect the latest. A few cases that I have been involved with will often focus on which edition was in use at the time. OSHA does reference NFPA 70E for arc flash incidents as well.

As an FYI regarding the interest in moving up to the “latest and greatest�, I had a one-hour 2021 update back See Video in June 2020 before the 2021 edition was published and was stunned by the turn out of people from around the world trying to get a jump on this. Many of my clients move as quickly as they can to use the latest once it is released.

I’m sure other’s also have an opinion on this.