What Field Experts Are Saying

How can employers ensure employees are protected from arc flash hazards and what benefits do you gain from a proactive stance on these studies?

“The only way to know exactly what personal protective equipment (PPE) is needed to protect employees from arc flash hazards is to perform an incident energy analysis. Simply put, when industrial or commercial electrical distribution equipment fails, it can potentially result in an explosion. This “explosion” is the manifestation of incident energy. Basically, electrical distribution equipment and the equipment configuration need to be evaluated to determine how much incident energy (heat generated from the explosion) can be produced during a worst-case failure. Incident energy is measured in calories per centimeter squared (cal/cm2). A calorie is the amount of energy it takes to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius. An arc flash analysis determines the most severe incident energy that can be produced at each location of the distribution system so that there’s no doubt what level of arc flash PPE is required to protect workers from receiving burns during an arc flash event.”

“There are often overlooked side benefits of having the arc flash analysis performed as well. After the analysis is complete, a thorough database of all of the electrical equipment now exists, their configuration, and their protective settings. Often, the analysis leads to updating existing drawings so that a complete set of accurate one-line diagrams is available of the entire distribution system. Depending on the company hired to perform the analysis, there could also be the benefit of a knowledgeable person taking an “outsider” look at the system who may be able to see things that could be changed to help improve efficiency or avoid some developing electrical failure. Many people identify equipment coordination issues that can lead to larger outages than necessary when a breaker trips. These are just a few of the examples that hopefully start to paint the picture that the benefits greatly outweigh the up-front capital investment.”

-Tommy Northcott Jan 23rd 2018, from EC&M