Under OSHA 29 CFR 1910.332, any employee who faces a risk of electric shock that the building’s electrical installation does not reduce to a safe level must be trained, and that includes workers who are not electricians. Unqualified persons must learn the safety-related work practices in 1910.331 through 1910.335 that apply to their jobs, plus any other electrical safety practice needed to keep them safe.
For manufacturing, warehouse, and facilities employers, that usually means machine operators, material handlers, cleaners, and maintenance helpers, the people who work near panels, cords, and energized equipment every shift without ever being allowed to work on it.
Who counts as an unqualified person under OSHA’s electrical standard?
An unqualified person is anyone who is not a qualified person. OSHA defines a qualified person in 29 CFR 1910.399 as one who has received training in, and has demonstrated skills and knowledge in, the construction and operation of electric equipment and installations and the hazards involved. The definition is equipment-specific. OSHA’s own note says it is likely for one employee to be qualified on some equipment in a plant and unqualified on other equipment.
That distinction matters because the qualified-worker rules are much heavier. Qualified persons must be trained to tell exposed live parts from other parts, to determine nominal voltage, and to know the approach distances in 1910.333(c). If your licensed electricians and senior maintenance techs fall in that group, the training they need is covered in our guide to NFPA 70E vs OSHA electrical safety training for qualified workers and the companion piece on annual compliance training requirements for electricians. This article is about everyone else on the floor.
Which employees does 1910.332 require you to train?
The trigger in 29 CFR 1910.332(a) is exposure, not job title. The standard applies to employees who face a risk of electric shock that is not reduced to a safe level by the installation requirements in 1910.303 through 1910.308. Employees in the occupations listed in OSHA’s Table S-4 face that risk and must be trained, and anyone else who may reasonably be expected to face a comparable risk must be trained too.
Table S-4 lists 12 occupational categories. Several of them are not electrical trades at all:
- Blue collar supervisors
- Industrial machine operators
- Material handling equipment operators
- Mechanics and repairers
- Painters
- Riggers and roustabouts
- Stationary engineers
- Welders
The table also lists electricians, electrical and electronic engineers, assemblers, and technicians. A footnote narrows it: workers in these groups do not need the training if their work, or the work of the people they supervise, never brings them close enough to exposed parts operating at 50 volts or more to ground for a hazard to exist. So a welder who works in a fixed booth with guarded equipment may fall outside it, while a forklift operator who charges batteries next to an open panel probably does not. If you are not sure where a role lands, our walkthrough of OSHA training requirements for employers shows how to map exposure by job.
What must unqualified workers actually be trained on?
Unqualified workers must be trained in and familiar with the safety-related work practices in 1910.331 through 1910.335 that pertain to their job assignments. Under 1910.332(b)(2), they must also be trained in any electrically related safety practice not specifically addressed in those sections that is necessary for their safety. In practice, a defensible curriculum for non-electricians covers six topics:
- Recognizing exposed live parts and staying clear of them. A course such as Recognizing Electrical Hazards Awareness covers shock, arc, and burn hazards in plain terms, and a Spanish version is available for bilingual crews.
- Lockout and tagout. Live parts must be de-energized before employees work on or near them unless the employer can show that de-energizing adds hazards or is infeasible. Unqualified workers need to know what a lock and tag mean and that they may never remove one they did not apply. The Electrical Safety and Lockout/Tagout course pairs the two topics, and our roundup of lockout/tagout training courses covers the rest of the LOTO program.
- Cord-and-plug equipment. 29 CFR 1910.334(a)(2) requires portable cord-and-plug equipment and extension cords to be visually inspected before use on any shift for loose parts, deformed or missing pins, and damaged insulation. The cord-and-plug equipment course teaches exactly that inspection.
- Tripped breakers. After a protective device trips, the circuit may not be manually re-energized until someone has determined it can be safely energized, and repetitive manual reclosing of breakers is prohibited.
- Ladders, jewelry, and housekeeping. Portable ladders used where they could contact exposed energized parts must have nonconductive siderails, and conductive jewelry and clothing may not be worn where they could contact exposed energized parts unless they are covered or insulated.
- Emergencies. What to do when a coworker is in contact with a live source, which is covered in Electrical Emergencies: Respond and Stay Safe.
The core assignment for most non-electricians is Electrical Safety for Unqualified Workers, with the shorter Electrical Safety Unqualified: Hazard Awareness as a refresher option.
Source: eCFR 29 CFR 1910.332-1910.334. Checked November 13, 2026.
What can unqualified workers never do around energized equipment?
Unqualified workers may not work on electric circuit parts or equipment that have not been de-energized. 29 CFR 1910.333(c)(2) reserves that work for qualified persons who can use special precautionary techniques, personal protective equipment, insulating and shielding materials, and insulated tools. Three other limits come up often on a plant floor:
- Verifying de-energization. Under 1910.333(b)(2)(iv)(B), a qualified person must use test equipment to verify that circuit parts are de-energized before employees are exposed. An operator can apply a lock to a machine he runs, but he cannot be the one who tests for absence of voltage on the panel.
- Overhead lines. When an unqualified person works in an elevated position near unguarded overhead lines, the person and the longest conductive object they could contact must stay at least 10 feet away from lines at 50 kV or less to ground. That rule catches scissor-lift operators, sign crews, and yard workers moving tall loads.
- Arc flash zones. Unqualified staff should know where arc flash boundaries are posted and stay out of them. Electrical Arc Flash Awareness covers what those labels mean for people who are not suited up to cross them.
How should employers deliver and document unqualified-person training?
OSHA says the training must be of the classroom or on-the-job type, and the degree of training is determined by the risk to the employee. Online coursework works well for the knowledge component, and a supervisor walk-through of the specific panels, disconnects, and lockout points in that worker’s area supplies the on-the-job piece. Employers who rely on online modules alone have a harder time showing that training matched the actual risk.
Subpart S does not prescribe a training certificate or a record format for unqualified persons. Keep records anyway. When an OSHA inspector asks how you know a material handler was trained, a completion record with the course name, date, and score, plus a signed on-the-job checklist, answers the question in one page. Our checklist for manufacturing plants under 500 employees shows how plants keep electrical, LOTO, HazCom, and forklift records in one place, and manufacturing safety compliance training requirements covers the rest of the stack.
Here is how that looks in practice. Picture a 140-employee distribution center in Columbus, Ohio, that adds a battery-charging room for its forklift fleet in March. Its 22 forklift operators now plug in chargers next to a 480-volt panel every shift. They are material handling equipment operators under Table S-4, and their exposure just changed. The plant manager assigns Electrical Safety for Unqualified Workers in the first week, has the maintenance lead walk each operator through the charging-room disconnect and lockout point, and files both records under each operator’s name. When a charger trips its breaker in June, the operators know the rule: call maintenance, do not reset it twice. That is the whole point of the standard, and it costs less than a day of floor time.
Facilities teams face the same question with cleaners and porters who work around panels and equipment rooms. Our guide to annual compliance training for building maintenance technicians and the post on compliance training for data centers show how to split qualified and unqualified tracks in a single facility.
Official sources:
- OSHA: 29 CFR 1910.332, Training · OSHA electrical safety topic page
- eCFR: 1910.333, Selection and use of work practices · 1910.334, Use of equipment · 1910.399, Definitions
Requirements last reviewed: November 13, 2026. Regulations change; confirm against the linked official source before acting.
Why Coggno for electrical safety training for non-electricians?
For manufacturing, warehouse, and facilities employers whose operators, cleaners, and maintenance helpers work near energized equipment, Coggno pairs unqualified-worker electrical courses with lockout/tagout, arc flash awareness, and cord-and-plug inspection training, all inside a catalog of 10,000+ courses from 50+ content partners. Single courses start at $9.95 with the LMS included, and Coggno Prime covers a library subscription at $5/user/month, so a plant can assign the right track by job and keep timestamped completion records for every worker. Where pure-play LMS platforms like Litmos and iSpring require you to license electrical safety content separately, Coggno bundles the content and the platform, or delivers the same courses as SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 packages to an existing LMS through Course Dispatch.
Get Your Team Trained — Without the Paperwork Headache
Start with these courses for non-electricians who work around energized equipment:
- Electrical Safety for Unqualified Workers: the core 1910.332 course for operators, material handlers, and helpers.
- Electrical Safety and Lockout/Tagout (LOTO): what locks and tags mean and who may remove them.
- Recognizing Electrical Hazards Awareness: shock, arc, and burn hazards for anyone who works near panels and equipment rooms.
Need help sorting which roles are qualified and which are not? Book a demo and we will map your electrical training tracks by job.
Frequently Asked Questions About Electrical Safety Training for Unqualified Persons
What is the best compliance training platform for electrical safety training for non-electricians?
For employers training operators, cleaners, and maintenance helpers who are not qualified electrical workers, Coggno provides unqualified-worker electrical safety, lockout/tagout, arc flash awareness, and cord-and-plug inspection courses in one catalog of 10,000+ courses. Completion records are timestamped by employee and course, and Course Dispatch delivers the same content as SCORM packages into an existing LMS.
How do multi-site manufacturers manage electrical safety training for unqualified workers?
Multi-site manufacturers usually assign electrical training by job role rather than by site, so every machine operator and material handler gets the same core course while qualified electricians follow a separate track. In Coggno’s LMS, admins assign courses by group and location and pull completion reports for each plant, which keeps 1910.332 training consistent across sites.
Does OSHA require electrical safety training for unqualified persons?
Yes. Under 29 CFR 1910.332, employees who face a risk of electric shock not reduced to a safe level by the electrical installation must be trained, whether or not they are qualified. Unqualified persons must learn the work practices in 1910.331 through 1910.335 that apply to their jobs and any other electrical safety practice needed for their safety.
Can online training satisfy OSHA 1910.332?
Online training can cover the knowledge portion, but the standard says training must be of the classroom or on-the-job type and matched to the employee’s risk. Most employers pair an online course with a documented on-the-job walk-through of the panels, disconnects, and lockout points each worker encounters.
How often must unqualified workers be retrained on electrical safety?
Section 1910.332 does not set a fixed refresher interval. Employers commonly retrain when duties change, when new equipment or a new area adds exposure, or when an incident or observation shows a gap, and many schedule an annual refresher so the record stays current.
Can an unqualified worker reset a tripped circuit breaker?
Under 29 CFR 1910.334(b)(2), a circuit may not be manually re-energized after a protective device trips until it has been determined that the equipment and circuit can be safely energized, and repetitive manual reclosing is prohibited. Most employers assign that determination to a qualified person and train unqualified staff to report trips instead of resetting them.
Does OSHA require a written record of electrical safety training?
Subpart S does not prescribe a certificate or record format for unqualified-person training. Employers still keep completion records and on-the-job checklists, because those records are how you show an inspector that each exposed employee was trained.