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In-person · Leadville, COElectrical safety training in Leadville, CO
Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the country, and the molybdenum mine at Climax on Fremont Pass still drives its economy as the silver mines once did. We train the electrical crews who keep Lake County's mine, power plant, hospital and public systems working at 10,000 feet, at your facility or in an in-person class we set up in Leadville when you ask.
Private employers in Colorado are inspected by federal OSHA. Every class is live, on the 2027 edition of NFPA 70E, and taught by a Certified Safety Professional. Colorado electrical safety training requirements →
Among the teams we have trained in the last year
Four ways to train your Leadville crew
Crews we train in and around Leadville: mining, hydropower, utilities, health care, recreation, public employers.
What the class covers for Leadville crews
Crushers, ball mills and flotation lines run on large motors fed from medium voltage gear. We cover arc flash boundaries and lockout on motor control centers and drives typical of a mineral processing plant.
Mine property falls under MSHA while contractors and town employers fall under OSHA. We explain how NFPA 70E work practices fit both settings without claiming either agency enforces it.
Hoists, headgates and generator auxiliaries at a pumped storage plant combine mechanical and electrical stored energy. We discuss isolating both before anyone reaches in.
Leadville sits above 10,000 feet, and help is far away. We cover planning so a mistake never depends on a fast rescue, including approach boundaries and verifying absence of voltage with gloves on.
Leadville at a glance
Federal OSHA (Englewood Area Office); MSHA on mine property
Xcel Energy; Sangre de Cristo Electric Association
Statewide (Colorado State Electrical Board, DORA)
LXV, EGE, DEN
Mountain
Colorado: what applies to your crews
Enforcement: federal OSHA and MSHA
Colorado has no state plan. Lake County employers off mine property report to federal OSHA's Englewood Area Office, and the Climax operation is regulated by MSHA. Public employees, including city, county and hospital district staff, are outside OSHA in Colorado.
Licensing: statewide
The State Electrical Board in DORA licenses Colorado's journeymen, masters and residential wiremen and registers contractors and apprentices, and a Leadville license is valid statewide.
Where NFPA 70E fits
OSHA does not enforce NFPA 70E, and neither does MSHA. Employers use it as the work practice standard behind their compliance with OSHA 1910 Subpart S and 1926 Subpart K, and OSHA can cite recognized electrical hazards under the General Duty Clause.
Leadville's electrical work environment
Climax Molybdenum, a Freeport-McMoRan subsidiary, works an open pit at about 11,360 feet on the Continental Divide. The site covers roughly 14,350 acres, and its mill crushes ore and separates molybdenite by froth flotation at up to 25,000 metric tons a day, with capacity for about 30 million pounds of molybdenum a year. Commercial operations restarted in May 2012 after the mine sat on care and maintenance from 1995. Crushers, grinding mills, flotation cells and conveyors mean big motors, medium voltage distribution and constant maintenance.
South of town, the Bureau of Reclamation's Mount Elbert plant pumps water up to a 275 acre forebay and releases it through two 15 foot penstocks to a powerhouse on Twin Lakes. Its two 100 MW pump turbine units came online in 1981 and 1984. Upstream work on headgates, hoists and controls at a site like this calls for careful isolation planning.
Lake County has about 7,400 residents, and Leadville is its only municipality. St. Vincent Health, founded in 1879 and now run by an elected hospital district, kept its emergency room open on generator power during an October 2025 substation outage. Lake County also owns Ski Cooper on Tennessee Pass, where the 10th Mountain Division trained during World War II. The California Gulch Superfund cleanup is mostly finished, but old mine workings remain part of the landscape.
Molybdenum, hydropower and a high country hospital
Lake County's industrial electrical work is concentrated in a few large sites around Leadville. These are the main ones.
| Site | What is there | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Climax mine Climax Molybdenum (Freeport-McMoRan) | Open pit molybdenum mine and mill on Fremont Pass, shipping since 1915 with breaks. | Operating |
| Mount Elbert Pumped Storage Powerplant U.S. Bureau of Reclamation | Two 100 MW pump turbine units between the Mount Elbert forebay and Twin Lakes. | Operating |
| St. Vincent Health St. Vincent General Hospital District | Critical access hospital with a 24/7 emergency room and ambulance service. | Operating |
| Leadville Substation Xcel Energy | Received emergency maintenance in October 2025 to improve long term reliability. | Operating |
| Ski Cooper Lake County (managed by Cooper Hill Ski Area) | County owned ski area on Tennessee Pass with five lifts and snowcat terrain. | Operating |
| Lake County Airport Lake County | General aviation field at 9,934 feet. | Operating |
Xcel Energy, Sangre de Cristo Electric and Mount Elbert
Xcel Energy serves Leadville and much of Lake County, with Sangre de Cristo Electric Association covering other customers in the area. The Leadville Substation needed emergency maintenance on October 21, 2025, and the town, courthouse and hospital planned for up to five hours on backup power. Reliability has long been a local concern, with nine outages reported between May and mid July of 2012.
The county's largest generating asset is federal. Mount Elbert's 200 MW of pumped storage cycles water between its forebay and Twin Lakes to balance the regional grid, and it was rated in two equal units completed in 1981 and 1984. For local electricians, the mix of utility substations, federal hydro and a large mine load means arc flash studies and labels can look very different from one job to the next.
Who we train in Leadville and Lake County
Electricians and contractors working the Climax pit, mill and support facilities on Fremont Pass.
Plant and maintenance staff around the Mount Elbert powerplant and Twin Lakes.
Line and substation crews serving Lake County for Xcel Energy and Sangre de Cristo Electric.
Facilities staff at St. Vincent Health.
Lift and building maintenance workers at Ski Cooper.
City of Leadville, Lake County and school district electricians, who have no OSHA coverage.
Also serving
Questions from Leadville employers
Our mine falls under MSHA. Why train on NFPA 70E?
Can you teach at the mine site?
Is Leadville too remote for an onsite class?
Does the cold change what PPE we need?
Does finishing the class make someone a qualified electrical worker?
What the people in the room say
“Virtual can never replace hands-on, but the engagement from our instructor and the class made it feel more engaging than some in-person courses I've taken.”
“Probably one of the most useful safety courses I've ever attended. Rick genuinely cares about people and their well-being.”
“This is the 2nd arc flash training course I've taken and the class was amazing. I feel like I'm leaving the training safer than before I took this class.”
Train your Leadville crew on the 2027 edition.
Onsite within a few days, or private live virtual as soon as tomorrow. Need it fast? Call (813) 725-0999.