Arc Flash & Electrical Safety News

Monday, February 19, 2007

LockOut / TagOut

The best way to prevent arc flash injuries is to not be working on energized equipment. Having an effective lockout / tagout system is an key component. The American Federation of State, County and Mucipal Employees has an article in the Health & Safety area of their web site that provides a good overview of lockout /tagout. Developed using a grant from OSHA, it provides a complete introduction to lockout /tagout. The topics covered are:

Identifying hazardous energy
What is lockout/tagout?
When is lockout/tagout needed?
What does OSHA require?
Tagout vs. Lockout
Tagout Program
Lockout Tagout equipment
Applying Lockout/Tagout
Release From Lockout/Tagout
Periodic Inspections
Training
Retraining

While Lockout / Tagout is important in preventing arc flash incidents, it is a much broader safety measure. It involves all forms of potential energy. As the article states:

"Hazardous energy can found in the workplace in different forms. The most common form of energy is electrical, but mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, chemical, and thermal energy can also be dangerous. Energy can also mean movement or the possibility of movement."

The benefits of a good lockout / tagout program extend beyond arc flash safety and include any area in your facility in which energy is used.

Labels: Preventing Arc Flash Accidents, Work Place Safety

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Thursday, February 15, 2007

Protecting Against Arc Flash Hazards

The January 2007 issue of Occupational Hazards magazine includes an article by Sandy Smith that looks at what went wrong in an arc flash fatality. The article opens by pointing out:

"In 2005, 250 workers died as a result of coming into contact with an electrical current, often the result of arc flash occurring from equipment that was not de-energized before repair or maintenance work began."

What happened was a lineman, who "was part a three-man crew involved in replacing cables under a switch cabinet" was working within the 24 inch hot zone near a 17,400 volt switch, but he was not wearing his insulated hard hat. His head can too close to the energized switch and there was an arc flash.

The article lists the results of the NIOSH investigation and makes recommendations for preventing this type of fatality.

Labels: Arc Flash Accidents

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Wednesday, February 14, 2007

OSHA Issues Final Rule on Electrical Installation Standard

OSHA Press Release

WASHINGTON -- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration published a final rule in today's Federal Register for an updated electrical installation standard.

"These are the first changes to the electrical installation requirements in 25 years, so it is important the standard reflects the most current practices and technologies in the industry," said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Edwin G. Foulke Jr. "The revised standard strengthens employee protections and adds consistency between OSHA's requirements and many state and local building codes which have adopted updated National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and National Electrical Code provisions."

Changes to OSHA's general industry electrical installation standard focus on safety in the design and installation of electric equipment in the workplace. The updated standard includes a new alternative method for classifying and installing equipment in Class I hazardous locations; new requirements for ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) and new provisions on wiring for carnivals and similar installations.

The final rule updates the general industry electrical installation requirements to the 2000 edition of the NFPA 70E, which was used as the foundation of the revised standard. The final rule also replaces the reference to the 1971 National Electrical Code in the mandatory appendix to the powered platform standard with a reference to OSHA's electrical installation standard.

Labels: Construction

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Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Arc Flash Fatality In A Mine

"On October 12, 2006, a 24-year old maintenance coordinator, with 1 year and 4 months mining experience, was fatally injured at an iron ore operation. The victim was troubleshooting an electrical fault in a high-voltage motor control center when a sustained arc blast occurred."

Read the OSHA Report

Labels: Arc Flash Accidents

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FREE Arc Flash Safety Book - A $70 value!

This comprehensive and valuable resource will walk you through the necessary steps for implementing an arc flash assessment as part of your overall safety program requirements. It will help lead the way to improved personnel safety, plant profitability, and compliance with arc flash mandates.

Use this link to request your free copy of this Arc Flash Safety Book.

The above link will take you to a page that has the complete table of contents for this book. You can look it over and decide whether it will be useful to you. A free copy can be ordered using the form on the same page.

Labels: Arc Flash

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Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Exceeding the Short Circuit Rating of Equipment

A series of photographs on the Ferraz Shawmut, Inc. web site show how magnetic forces in bus bars can result in an arc flash. The test and the resulting photographs are described on the web site as:

"The images illustrate how current flowing in opposite directions through parallel bus bars can create a repulsive force between them, causing them to distort or even break away. When the bus bars contact other conductors or grounded components, an explosive arc fault is initiated."

Labels: Arc Flash

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Monday, February 05, 2007

Failure to Wear Proper PPE Results In Arc Flash Injury

A report from the Department of Energy Office of Health, Safety and Security describes an arc flash incident that happened in April 2006. This report caught my eye because the incident involved an electrical engineer. We sometimes focus training on employees in crafts or trades, and neglect others who may be exposed to workplace hazards. I'm an electrical engineer who worked as a field and sales engineer for 16 years. In all of that time the only facility I can remember requiring me to go through their safety training was the Boise Cascade St. Helens paper mill. Although the engineer who was injured in the DOE incident described in this report was a DOE employee, this report serves as a good reminder that everyone with access to a facility--employees, management, contractors, inspectors and vendors--needs to be aware of the potential dangers in that facility and be fully trained concerning required protective measures.

Read The DOE Article

This article is titled "Failure To Wear Proper PPE", but when you read the complete report you'll see that there was more to this accident. PPE is protection of last resort. It would be much better if the accident had been prevented in the first place. Page two of the report identifies five problems:

– Failure to ensure the ground fault monitoring detection system was operable.

– NFPA 70 for ground fault protection was not implemented.

– They failed to implement work controls for ungrounded delta systems that could have a ground fault.

– Protection boundaries had not been established and the panel was not properly labeled.

– Established work proceedures, which should have resulted in the engineer being stopped from working on the panel without proper PPE, were not followed.

Labels: Arc Flash Accidents, Work Place Safety

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