Mcc room?

Can a Mcc room be used as an office with the desk 3-4' away from the Mcc ? The company has allowed workers use it as a office . There is not much room to begin with and my lead told management it is not a good place for an office

That sounds like a really, really bad idea. While equipment failure is rare, you couldn't pay me enough to sit in that room all day.

I believe you will find answers in other code sections depending on your state. I am sure ventialtion requirements, life sfatey requirements, storage of certian flamable chemicals, etc. would most likely prohibt such use.

Check within the IBC, IFC, IMC, and the NEC if they are applicable to your state.

Read the NEC code.... then ask your company's insurance carrier if they allow electrical rooms to be used as office space with complete with combustable materials.

MCC in S. America

I was at a project in S. America. Workers used spare MCC empty buckets as lockers for tools and lunches. And a nearby cardboard & wood box with a 100 watt bulb as a food warmer. This was a newly commissioned installation.

I don't believe there is a code prohibiting the placement of an MCC within office space, providing work space is preserved and the safe approach distance is observed.

In terms of Arc Flash Hazard, as long as an analysis has been done on the panels, and the arc flash protection boundary (FPB) is marked, and there is a procedure in place to prohibit unqualified workers without proper PPE to enter the FPB (such as fences, restrictions), I don't see why it cannot be done so. I would also recommend placing arc flash suppression blankets on the panels in order to reduce the hazard even more

Recently I investgated a 4000 amp, 480 volt xfmr secondary bus duct explosion that feed a LVPB switchgear line up, and in turn MCC starter panels in an MCC room. The MCC room is 30'x40'. The tranformer secondary was loaded to 800 amp (xfmr FLA is 3000 amps) at the time the bus duct failed. The result was a vaporized 2 foot section of bus and blasting melted copper and metal 360 degrees around the room like a shotgun blast that actually fused themselves to the starter doors 30' away. The arc blast pressure broke the hindges off the MCC room's metal fire rated door and bent the door. Anyone in that MCC at the time of the blast would have been critically injured at best or killed. Anyone that want to use a MCC room for office space better get a good lawyer on retainer to defend against the employee wrongful death law suits.