Rods, tubes and poles of live-line tools must be built to pass minimum design tests: fiberglass-reinforced plastic (FRP) withstanding 328,100 V/m (100,000 V/ft) of length over 5 minutes; wood withstanding 246,100 V/m (75,000 V/ft) over 3 minutes; or other tests the employer can show are equivalent. Rod and tube meeting ASTM F711-02 (2007) are deemed to satisfy the FRP test. Every day, before a tool is used, it is wiped clean and given a visual check for defects. If any defect or contamination able to impair insulating quality or mechanical integrity remains after wiping, the tool is taken out of service and examined and tested before return. Tools relied on for primary employee protection come out of service at 2-year intervals, and whenever such a defect is found, for examination, cleaning, repair and testing: each is thoroughly examined; defective or contaminated tools are repaired and refinished or permanently retired, while sound ones are cleaned and waxed. Testing follows any repair or refinishing, and also follows an examination without repair unless it is built of FRP rod, or of FRP tube with foam fill, and the employer demonstrates it is free of defects likely to cause failure in use. The test method must verify integrity along the full working length and, for FRP, under wet conditions, at 246,100 V/m (75,000 V/ft) for 1 minute for fiberglass, 164,000 V/m (50,000 V/ft) for 1 minute for wood, or a demonstrated equivalent. IEEE Std 516-2009 gives guidance for examination, cleaning, repair and in-service testing.
The graph holds this control, the 0 it maps to, and the evidence behind each claim, over MCP and REST.