Arc Flash Hazards Protect your employees from fire and injury.

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What causes an arc flash? Are you familiar with the changing codes and government regulations? What can you do to protect your employees from fire and injury? This paper is designed to address those concerns and answer questions to help protect your assets. What is an arc flash? An arc flash is a current flowing through air that flashes from one exposed live conductor to another conductor or to ground. When an arc flash happens, the temperatures can reach up to 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This is four times the temperature on the surface of the sun. The result can be destruction of equipment, fire, and injury. What causes an arc flash? An arc flash occurs when electrical clearances are reduced or compromised by deteriorating insulation or human error. The arc flash follows a conductive path between two hot (energized) wires or between a hot wire and ground. How can I protect employees from arc flashes? The recommended way to protect employees is to de-energize equipment prior to working on it. When de-energization is not feasible per code, enforce safe work practices. Require your employees to be properly suited in conjunction with a recent arc flash study. Actions that require PPE include, but are not limited to, operating a breaker with the deadfront cover removed, voltage testing, working on energized equipment, and racking in or out drawout units. Why is an arc flash study important? Without an arc flash study you will not know the actual level of danger or the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) required for employees. Electrical systems are dynamic and change over time. Internal changes, such as adding new equipment can affect the level of arc flash energy. A study must be updated every time the system changes. External changes, such as a utility changing transformers or changes at your utilitys closest substation can severely impact your level of arc flash energy. Performing this study will help you create a safer work environment.

What steps can help protect employees from arc flash? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Work de-energized. Have a professional engineer calculate the short circuits. Perform a Protective Device Coordination Study. Perform an arc flash calculation. Document the findings. Determine specifics of unsafe work locations. Eliminate hazards through system changes or operational procedures. 8. Apply hazard labels describing required PPE and boundaries for equipment use. 9. Establish safe work practice procedures. Are the generic PPE recommendations of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 70E sufficient? Following NFPA 70E guidelines is highly recommended, however, the actual field conditions can be more hazardous than the NFPA 70E guidelines. An arc flash study can reveal equipment with elevated hazard levels. This will help you protect your employees. The General Duty Clause and the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) The General Duty Clause states each employer shall furnish . . . a place of employment . . . free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees . . . The clause does not provide enough detail to determine the proper level of PPE required. OSHA has referenced the General Duty Clause when citing employers for: Failing to keep the jobsite free from hazards. Hazards that are likely to cause serious harm or death. Recognizing the hazard, but not taking corrective action. Failing to take advantage of feasible and useful methods to protect against the hazard.

Proper PPE is cited as a feasible and useful method for addressing hazards while using a piece of equipment. The only way to provide this level of detail is to perform the arc flash study.

Explanation of the 2008 National Electrical Code (NEC) Section 110.16

Electrical equipment such as switchboards, panelboards, industrial control panels, meter socket enclosures, and motor control centers that are in other than dwelling occupancies and are likely to require examination, adjustment, servicing, or maintenance while energized shall be field marked to warn qualified persons of potential electric arc flash hazards. The marking shall be located so as to be clearly visible to qualified persons before examination, adjustment, servicing, or maintenance of the equipment.
FPN No. 1: NFPA 70E-2000. Electrical Safety Requirements for Employee Workplaces, provides assistance in determining severity of potential exposure, planning safe work practices, and selecting personal protective equipment (PPE). FPN No. 2: ANSI Z535.4-1998, Product Safety Signs and Labels, provides guidelines for the design of safety signs and labels for application to products.

. . . are likely to require examination, adjustment, servicing, or maintenance while energized . . . Will these happen in my facility? Quite possibly. NFPA 70E states that equipment can be worked hot during infeasible conditions which include start-up testing, troubleshooting and diagnostics or a continuous process segment. If electricians are starting up your facility, doing troubleshooting, or if your facility is a continuous process, then they need to be protected. Whenever possible, it is recommended that work is completed when equipment is de-energized. . . . shall be field marked . . . What does this mean? This is a field marking rather than a factory marking since it is application oriented. . . . to warn qualified persons of potential electric arc flash hazards . . . Who is a qualified person? Per the NEC, a qualified person is one who has skills and knowledge related to the construction and operation of the electrical equipment and installations and has received safety training to recognize and avoid the hazards involved. Refer to NFPA 70E-2004, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace, for electrical safety training requirements. Will a generic label suffice? While the generic label like the one below, left, will meet the NEC requirements to field mark and warn, it will not address actual site conditions, safe work boundaries, or PPE. The label on the right is from a study and provides the additional useful information on clothing and safe work boundaries.

Understanding the NEC

. . . other than dwelling occupancies . . . What is considered a dwelling? Per the NEC, a dwelling is a single unit, providing complete and independent living facilities for one or more persons. This includes permanent provisions for living, sleeping, cooking, and sanitation. If the building is a dwelling, it does not require arc flash labeling. Office buildings, plants, stadiums, malls, and schools are not considered dwelling occupancies, therefore are covered by the NEC provision requiring an arc flash warning.

What is OSHAs Stance on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)?

In most cases, OSHA requires employers to furnish PPE. http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_ table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=14739 In November 2007, OSHA announced the employer-paid personal protective equipment final rule. WASHINGTON The U.S. Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) [November 14, 2007] announced a final rule on employer-paid personal protective equipment (PPE). Under the rule, all PPE, with a few exceptions, will be provided at no cost to the employee. OSHA anticipates that this rule will have substantial safety benefits that will result in more than 21,000 fewer occupational injuries per year. The rule will be published in the Federal Register on November 15, 2007. Employees exposed to safety and health hazards may need to wear personal protective equipment to be protected from injury, illness, and death caused by exposure to those hazards, said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Edwin G. Foulke Jr. This final rule will clarify who is responsible for paying for PPE, which OSHA anticipates will lead to greater compliance and potential avoidance of thousands of workplace injuries each year. The final rule contains a few exceptions for ordinary safety-toed footwear, ordinary prescription safety eyewear, logging boots, ordinary clothing, and weather-related gear. The final rule also clarifies OSHAs requirements regarding payment for employeeowned PPE and replacement PPE. While these clarifications have added several paragraphs to the regulatory text, the final rule provides employees no less protection than they would have received under the 1999 proposed standard. The rule also provides an enforcement deadline of six months from the date of publication [May 15, 2008] to allow employers time to change their existing PPE payment policies to accommodate the final rule. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHAs role is to assure the safety and health of Americas working men and women by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.

How many people are hurt by Arc Flash? Capelli-Schellpfeffer, Inc. of Chicago, a national tracking service, reports 5 to 10 arc flash injuries a day that require hospitalization. However, there are additional arc flash incidents that are not documented for national tracking. Regardless, 5 to 10 per day equates to 1,800 to 3,600 injuries per year nationwide. The 2009 Edition of NFPA 70E will require equipment to be field marked with the available incident energy or the required level of PPE.

Conclusion
Arc flashes can maim or kill. Having Siemens perform an arc flash study is a feasible and useful first step for protection. The study will determine the appropriate PPE at that time. If an arc-flash hazard is present, or likely to be present, then you, the employer, must select, purchase, and require employees to use the protective apparel. Employers who conduct the hazard/risk assessment, and select, purchase, and require their employees to use protective clothing and other PPE appropriate for the task, as stated in the NFPA 70E standard, 2000 Edition, are deemed in compliance with the Hazard Assessment and Equipment Selection OSHA standard.
NFPA, NEC and National Electric Code are registered trademarks of the National Fire Protection Association. ANSI is a registered trademark of the American National Standards Institute.

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