Hello,
I do not have a strong background in electrical safety but am looking at the safety implications of operating a circuit breaker to shut-down/ restart equipment.

We have medical imaging equipment that for various reasons may need to be fully shut-off and restarted. Some of the older equipment does not have on/off switches that can meet these needs. Technicians who use the equipment have historically operated circuit breakers in the vicinity of the equipment to reset the equipment. The electrical panels associated with the equipment list 480V.

This practice came to my attention and brought up some concerns.

I've attempted to review an available copy of NFPA 70E and feel like some types of electrical work it is very clear on, but others it is harder to know how to classify.

1) Does operating a circuit breaker qualify as electrical work? (can non-electrical safety trained staff operate this?)
2) If so, what level of training and/or PPE would be required to do so?

I apologize for my ignorance, but this is simply not an area I regularly work in.

NFPA 70E does not care what the 'title' of an employee is nor what their daily job description includes.

All NFPA 70E cares about is that the action is being performed by someone trained and qualified to perform that action.