Section 39.285. Use of portables and pendants

(a) Portable and pendant conductors shall not be installed or used on circuits operating at over 300 volts to ground, unless they are accessible only to persons authorized to approach them. In such cases they shall be of a type suited to the voltage and conditions. In car houses and similar locations where service at low voltage is not available and where necessary to use low voltage pendant or portable lamps or other devices in series with lamps on trolley circuits, the devices should be used only with great caution and be placed preferably on the grounded side of the circuit concerned.

(b) If portable conductors are required, fixed sockets or connectors shall be provided at safely accessible points, attached, if practicable, to the grounded side of the circuit, and so located that liability of such conductors being brought into dangerous proximity with other live parts is reduced as far as practicable.

(c) If exposed to dampness or corrosive influences, portable conductors shall be of a type specially suited, and if exposed to inflammable gas or flyings they shall be so protected or isolated by elevation that they may not be readily damaged. In the latter case connectors shall be arranged so as not to be exposed to accidental opening by persons handling the portable conductors or devices. Portable lamps in locations where explosives or inflammable gases are normally present shall be incased in vaporproof globes with suitable mechanical guards.

(d) Portable and pendant conductors shall be so installed that no strain is placed on the terminal connections and shall have no joints except at suitable fittings.

(e) The use of worn or defective portable and pendant conductors should be avoided because of the danger to users by wire strands piercing the insulating covering, or becoming exposed through abrasion of the covering.

Notation

Cross References

This section cited in 34 Pa. Code § 39.197 (relating to grounding); and 34 Pa. Code § 39.217 (relating to pendants and portables).