Dear teams,

since the very first Formula Student Electric Rules we wrote back in 2009, we have required a Safety Responsible person in the team who has HV experience.

This was always intended to ensure that at least one person maintains an overview of the work the team is carrying out in order to identify hazards or dangerous practices when working on the electric car. This is to ensure safety at all times.

Since we are repeatedly asked about the exact qualification needed, we decided two years ago to use the DGUV 209-093 guideline with three levels as the basis for the required qualification.

This year, nothing has changed in the rules in this regard. We continue to request all ESOs to complete at least level 2E, better level 3E. We will not accept 1E certificates.

2E is the minimum requirement for an ESO. It allows the ESO disconnect the high voltage system, bring the vehicle into the electrically safe state even after an incident, and to declare the vehicle as electrically safe. Furthermore, everybody working on unpowered TS components should have this qualification. 3E is required for everybody working on the TS accumulator like dis- and reconnecting the maintenance plugs, working on the stacks.

All other team members should receive an 1E instruction from the ESO itself on your own vehicle. 1E is the base qualification of every team member which is tightly coupled to the actual vehicle and includes at least the basic electrical safety concept, the TSAL states, which boxes and wires not to touch, and how to handle incidents. We do not check this since it is the responsibility of every ESO in your team.

With this news we would like to point out in all clarity that the instruction and training courses must of course be made promptly for new team members and not only shortly before the ESOQ deadline. You are not doing this only for us, but for your own safety.

There are numerous providers of such 2E/3E courses. Some offer them free of charge for Formula Student, such as the VDE Nord or some universities. Others offer discounts for the Formula Student. However, the places are limited. We will list the known institutions at the end of this news. You are welcome to name additional institutions.

All foreign teams should undergo equivalent training. The certificate should show how the training was structured and what theoretical and practical content was taught. The best way is to add a declaration of equivalency to your certificate. A generic declaration of equivalence is sufficient.