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An industrial facility is typically served by large three-phase services which supply a variety of voltages. Even a relatively small set of buildings may have several customer-owned transformers and numerous distribution panels sprouting thousands of branch circuits and countless power outlets.

Since significant office space is usually involved, electrical contractors will often see customer-owned PBX (private branch exchange) telephone service emanating from a central office with a computer-controlled switch. In addition, with Internet service and an in-house Intranet, there will be a telecom room with Ethernet, wireless or optical fiber network. You don't have to look far to find a supervisory fire alarm with telephone, sprinkler and fire door interface and elevator capture. And speaking of elevators, extended downtime in this area can mean massive curtailment in productivity.

To keep all this running efficiently, an electrical maintenance department is required, complete with knowledge and expertise, tools, inventory and operating capital. When existing resources are not able to deal with an emergency situation or scheduled new construction, it is necessary to call in outside help and in these situations a pre-existing working relationship with local contractors is essential.

As an example, consider the elevator. If it goes out of service, in-house electricians are called immediately. If people are stuck between floors, the electrical personnel must certainly know how to lock out the main disconnect, get the door open and lower a stepladder so that people can get out quickly and safely. The next task is to diagnose the cause of failure. Usually, it is a door interlock adjustment, circuit board fuse or similar component failure. Then the controller can be reset and the elevator is back in service.

At times the problem eludes in-house staff and a professional elevator servicing firm has to be called in. It is vital to maintain a good working relationship with these and other outside contractors so that they will come quickly.

What to know

An area of great concern in elevator maintenance is licensing. Regulatory authority resides with State and/or Municipality and varies widely throughout the country. It is important for facility electricians to know where to draw the line in terms of permitted elevator maintenance.

In all cases, safety for company personnel and onsite visitors is the prime consideration. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) puts out the National Electrical Code (NEC) and the Life Safety Code (LSC), which are currently revised every three years. These two volumes, along with a number of other standards, are offered by the NFPA so that states or municipalities may adopt them into law with changes or amendments if desired.

These mandates must be followed closely by designers and installers. Good industrial maintenance electricians know these codes and keep informed of new developments.

A conscientious and knowledgeable electrical department with good outside contractors will insure the facility is a safe workplace from an electrical standpoint. Then the issues of efficiency, economy and productivity can be addressed.