Rhode Island General Laws Title 28. Labor and Labor Relations § 28-27-29. Persons and acts exempt

(a) The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to persons classified as maintenance personnel regularly in the employ of a public utility company doing utility company work, hospitals, schools, city, town or state employees regularly employed as maintenance personnel on the premises of the employer, and to any person employed in a plant maintenance department.

(b) “Maintenance” is confined to the specific premise and means preserving or repairing anything that exists, and can be maintained by persons regularly employed within a specific building or complex. Normally, city or town permits are not required for this work, nor is a state pipefitters/refrigeration or sheet metal workers license.

(c) “Service work” means work performed by state licensed qualified tradespersons or pipefitters/refrigeration mechanics or sheet metal workers.

(d) “Installation or new construction” means the modification, altering, or installation of any piping/refrigeration or air distribution systems, or their components (i.e., boilers, pumps, compressors, circulators, fans, and coils). This work requires state licensed pipefitter/refrigeration workers or sheet metal workers and city and town or state mechanical permits. If boiler installation is over two hundred thousand (200,000) BTU's on commercial work, a state boiler permit from occupational safety is required.