Electrical Maintenance Program to meet NFPA 70B mandate

A structured EMP is now essential to meet the NFPA 70B requirements and risk reduction. Without one, facilities face:

• Potential increased arc flash hazards due to deteriorating equipment
• Higher likelihood of unplanned outages, lost production, and costly downtime
• Potential liability exposure and OSHA findings if an incident occurs without documented maintenance

Insurance issues:

• Property insurers evaluate maintenance and testing practices during loss prevention assessments Liability insurers rely on loss history—where failures tied to poor maintenance can drive higher premiums
• Shortened equipment life and unnecessary capital expenditures
• A compliant EMP mitigates these risks through consistent inspection, testing, and prioritized maintenance actions.

Facilities with critical or continuous operations need an EMP

Facilities that cannot afford unplanned downtime benefit most from a structured EMP. Unexpected electrical failures can shut down operations for days or weeks and cost hundreds of thousands—or even millions—per incident. Eaton’s EMP helps facilities proactively identify risks, prioritize maintenance and prevent catastrophic failures by addressing the condition of maintenance now mandated under NFPA 70B. The result is improved reliability, safer operations and reduced downtime risk for mission‑critical environments.

Sites with aging or poorly documented electrical infrastructure

Many facilities operate with aging electrical assets, limited documentation or inconsistent maintenance histories. NFPA 70B now requires documented equipment surveys, maintenance procedures, inspection plans and recordkeeping. Eaton’s EMP provides a structured approach to inventorying equipment, assessing condition and developing documented maintenance procedures—even when historical records are incomplete. This creates a defensible, standards‑aligned maintenance foundation that improves safety, extends equipment life and reduces compliance risk.

Multi‑site organizations that need a unified EMP

Organizations with multiple locations often struggle with inconsistent maintenance practices and documentation. Eaton’s enterprise EMP approach enables corporate teams to establish standardized electrical safety programs, responsibilities and recordkeeping policies across all sites while still addressing site‑specific risks. This unified framework simplifies compliance, accelerates rollout and ensures consistent NFPA 70B alignment across the entire organization—without overburdening individual facilities.

Here’s a good list of what to look for when choosing an EMP provider

• Proven engineering expertise to build an EMP that aligns with NFPA 70B and supports longt erm electrical safety and reliability
• Multi‑vendor support to service and maintain equipment across all major manufacturers, avoiding fragmented programs
• Strong geographic coverage and scale to ensure consistent service, faster response, and support for multi‑site operations
• Ability to bundle related services—such as arc flash studies or power system assessments—to reduce site visits, minimize disruption, and lower overall project cost

Eaton's Engineering Services is an industry-thought leading, vendor-agnostic provider with nationwide engineering talent pool and a broad portfolio of services.

Here’s a list of key questions to ask an EMP provider:

• What level of electrical engineering expertise supports your EMPs?
  Do you have licensed engineers and specialists who understand NFPA 70B and complex power systems? Do your engineers sit on the NPFA 70B committees?
• Can you support equipment from multiple manufacturers?
  Are you able to assess and maintain electrical assets across all major brands—not just your own?u
• How do you support multi‑site or geographically dispersed facilities?
  Do you have the coverage and field resources to deliver consistent service nationwide?
• Who performs the fieldwork—employees or subcontractors?
  How do you ensure quality, consistency, and safety across sites?
• Can EMP development be bundled with related services?
  For example, can you combine EMP creation with arc flash studies or power quality assessments to reduce site visits?
• How do you minimize operational disruption during assessments?
  What planning, coordination, or data reuse practices are in place?
• How is the EMP documented and maintained over time?
  Will the program be easy to update as equipment, standards, or facility needs change?
• How do you help ensure ongoing compliance—not just initial setup?
  What support is available for audits, updates, or changes to regulations?

A comprehensive Electrical Maintenance Program (EMP) development service should give you everything needed to confidently implement and sustain a coherent compliant maintenance strategy.

• Complete electrical equipment inventory
  A verified list of all applicable electrical assets, along with an assessment of their current condition
• Risk and criticality based equipment ranking
  Clear prioritization based on equipment condition, criticality to operations, and safety risk
• Documented maintenance procedures
  Defined inspection, testing, and maintenance tasks for each type of electrical equipmen
• Established inspection and testing frequencies
  Frequencies aligned with NFPA 70B and adjusted based on asset condition and risk
• An actionable maintenance schedule
  A practical, easy to follow schedule that can be implemented immediately
• Prioritized corrective action roadmap
  A clear path for addressing deficiencies, safety gaps, and reliability risks in order of importance
• Standardized documentation and recordkeeping tools
  Templates and records that support audits, ongoing compliance, and future program updates

The end result should be a fully documented EMP that is ready for immediate implementation, not a high‑level assessment that requires significant additional effort to use.

Begin with a complimentary EMP overview. An Eaton representative will review your facility’s needs, explain NFPA 70B requirements and outline the EMP development process. You’ll also receive a free preliminary quotation.

To initiate the process, simply contact your local Eaton representative or complete our online form. Our team will gather the required information and begin developing your proposal.

Eaton offers optional, scalable support for full or partial implementation, including:

• Execution of required maintenance and testing tasks
• Infrared thermography
• Power system studies (e.g., arc‑flash hazard analysis)
• Electrical safety training

Eaton’s technicians, among the most trusted and highly trained in the industry, can perform these technical procedures directly or support your facility staff as needed. Whether you need ongoing turnkey support or help with select maintenance tasks, Eaton can work with you to ensure long‑term compliance and reliability.

Yes – and it’s highly recommended.

EMP development and arc‑flash study data collection overlap, so performing them together:

• Reduces duplicate site visits
• Lowers engineering and project costs
• Ensures consistent data, diagrams, and study inputs
• Strengthens alignment between NFPA 70B and NFPA 70E compliance

This integrated approach is the most efficient and cost‑effective path to electrical safety and compliance.

Deep NFPA 70B expertise and standards involvement

NFPA 70B is now an enforceable standard, and compliance requires more than checklists. Eaton’s power systems engineering experts actively support NFPA standards development and bring decades of field experience to every EMP. This deep expertise helps organizations properly interpret the standard, address all eleven required program elements and align electrical maintenance with broader NFPA 70E and OSHA safety expectations—reducing liability while improving worker safety.

Nationwide, multi‑vendor field engineering coverage

With more than 60 service locations and 1,500 field professionals across North America, Eaton provides nationwide support wherever your facilities operate. Our teams service major electrical equipment brands, not just Eaton equipment, allowing customers to implement one comprehensive EMP across their entire electrical system. This simplifies execution, improves consistency and eliminates the need to manage multiple maintenance providers.

Integrated safety, studies, modernization and digital roadmap

Eaton goes beyond EMP documentation. In addition to developing and implementing maintenance programs, Eaton supports electrical safety compliance, arc flash hazard analysis, inspections, testing and modernization planning. Advanced diagnostics, remote support and predictive insights help facilities identify issues early and plan capital improvements strategically. This integrated approach ensures your EMP is not just compliant—but actively supports long‑term reliability, safety and continuous improvement.