Construction Safety | 29 CFR 1926 Subpart K

Electrical Safety in Construction Requirements (2025)

Subpart K (29 CFR 1926.400–1926.405) sets the rules for every electrical installation and piece of equipment on a construction site — from the general requirements in §1926.402 and the wiring-method rules in §1926.403 to the design & protection duties in §1926.404 (including GFCI / AEGCP) and the grounding & bonding rules in §1926.405. Any site with temporary wiring, panelboards, or cord- and plug-connected equipment must comply — and violations carry penalties up to $161,323 per citation.

29 CFR 1926.400–1926.405

Electrocution & Arc-Flash Hazards

Updated for 2025

Why It Matters

Electrocution kills roughly 60 construction workers a year

The Bureau of Labor Statistics and the NIOSH Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) program consistently identify electrocution as one of the "Fatal Four" causes of death in construction. Contact with overhead power lines, damaged temporary wiring, missing GFCI protection, and failures of lockout/tagout on energized equipment each account for a steady share of those deaths — and arc-flash and arc-blast events add severe-burn injuries that don't always make the fatality count.

Subpart K was written to consolidate every piece of that risk into one set of duties: general requirements in §1926.402; wiring methods in §1926.403; design & protection in §1926.404 (including the GFCI / AEGCP path); grounding & bonding in §1926.405. A daily GFCI test and a competent-person cord inspection cost minutes; a citation — or a fatality — costs orders of magnitude more.

~60/year

construction workers killed by electrocution (BLS / NIOSH FACE)

6 sections

covering 1926.400 through 1926.405 — general requirements to grounding & GFCIs

29 CFR 1926 Subpart K

Breaking down the electrical safety regulations

Subpart K (29 CFR 1926.400–1926.405) sets the rules for every electrical installation on a construction site — scope and definitions, general equipment approval and listing requirements, approved wiring methods and components, branch-circuit design and GFCI protection, and grounding & bonding of equipment and piping.

29 CFR 1926.400

Scope, Application, and Definitions

Establishes Subpart K coverage for all electrical installations and equipment used on construction sites (including temporary wiring, panelboards, receptacles, and cord- and plug-connected equipment). Defines the key terms "energized", "energized parts", "qualified person", "ground fault", and "assured equipment grounding conductor program". The standard applies whenever any temporary wiring, distribution equipment, or cord- and plug-connected tool is in service on the jobsite.

29 CFR 1926.402

General Requirements

Electrical equipment must be approved and listed by a nationally recognized testing laboratory (NRTL) and used only in a manner consistent with its listing. Equipment must be suitable for the environment (wet, corrosive, hazardous, or normal) and installed per its design. Live parts must be guarded against accidental contact. Only qualified persons may perform work on energized circuits and equipment; unqualified persons must be kept clear.

29 CFR 1926.403

Wiring Methods and Components

Covers the wiring methods, components, and installation rules that apply on construction sites: approved raceways, boxes, fittings, cords, cables, splices, and strain-relief; identification of grounded and grounding conductors by color or marking; temporary wiring permitted only during construction, remodeling, maintenance, repair, or demolition and removed when the work is finished. Damaged or abraded jacket insulation must be removed from service before reuse.

29 CFR 1926.404

Wiring Design and Protection

Branch circuits and overcurrent protection sized per NEC tables; receptacles installed on construction sites must be GFCI-protected where the receptacle is in use by personnel (or the site must run an Assured Equipment Grounding Conductor Program per §1926.404(b)(1)(iii)). Energized parts must be deenergized and locked out / tagged out before employees work on or near them, except where deenergization introduces additional or increased hazards and an energized-work permit governs the work.

29 CFR 1926.405

Grounding and Bonding

Equipment grounding means the path from equipment to the grounding electrode conductor is continuous and sufficient to carry any fault current. Ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) must protect personnel using 120-volt, 15- and 20-ampere receptacle outlets on construction sites. Grounding connections must be made by qualified persons; bonding of piping systems and exposed structural metal follows the detailed rules in §1926.405(h) and Appendix C.

Subpart K GFCI Verification + AEGCP

GFCI Verification + Assured Equipment Grounding Conductor Program (AEGCP)

Composed card covering §1926.404(b)(1)(i)–(ii) GFCI requirement for 120V/15–20A receptacles and §1926.404(b)(1)(iii) as the alternative path: an Assured Equipment Grounding Conductor Program maintained in writing per Subpart K Appendix D — daily GFCI test documented on the trip-out log, all equipment cords and splices inspected before each shift by a designated competent person, written record of inspections and tests retained, and any equipment found defective removed from service and not returned until repaired.

2025 OSHA electrical citation penalties

OSHA adjusts its civil penalty amounts annually for inflation under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act. As of January 2025:

Violation Type	Maximum Penalty Per Citation	Typical Trigger
Willful or Repeat	$161,323	Employer knowingly exposed workers to energized or unguarded parts and failed to abate; or same electrical violation cited within 5 years
Serious	$16,132	Substantial probability of death or serious physical harm from electrocution, arc-flash, or contact with energized parts
Other-than-Serious	$16,132	Electrical violation with direct relationship to safety but low probability of serious harm
Failure to Abate	$16,132/day	Hazard not corrected by the OSHA-specified abatement deadline

Note: A single energized work task can produce multiple citations — missing GFCI protection (or absent AEGCP record), ungrounded equipment, missing or failed lockout/tagout, and qualified-person training gaps each represent independent compliance duties under Subpart K.

Source: OSHA penalty adjustment schedule. Amounts are updated annually under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015.

Free Resource

Use our OSHA construction safety checklist before your next electrical work

Our free printable checklist covers electrical hazards alongside nine other construction safety categories — 50+ items drawn from 29 CFR 1926. Download it, run through it on-site, and know your crew is covered.

Daily GFCI test on every 120V/15-20A receptacle used on site, with results logged
Assured Equipment Grounding Conductor Program (AEGCP) in writing with a designated competent person
Cord & equipment inspection before each shift; damaged or spliced cords removed from service
Energized parts deenergized and locked out / tagged out before work, except where infeasible and documented under an energized-work permit
Only qualified persons perform work on energized circuits ≤50V (and all higher-voltage work regardless)

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