5/9/2017 Bestpracticesforconductinganarcflashriskassessment

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Best practices for conducting an arc ash risk

assessment
Elevatesafetywithheightenedriskawareness.
ByDeeJones,P.E.,AVOEngineeringDivisionManager
Jun22,2015

Anarcflashoccurswhenelectriccurrentpassesthroughtheairinsteadofalongitsintendedpath.Theresultis
extremelyhighheatthatcancausesevereburns,blindinglight,andanexplosionthatcanresultinhearing
damageandpotentiallyfatalinjury.MultiplearcflashincidentsoccureverydayinworkplacesacrosstheUnited
States.

MorefromourJunecoverstory

NFPA70E2015:What'schanged
andwhatyouneedtoknow

Theeffectofgrowthonelectrical
equipmentreliabilityandsafety

Theresurgencytocompletingarcflashriskassessmentsandshockriskassessments:Accordingtochanges
madeforNFPA70E2015,theseassessmentsmustbeconductedbeforeanypersonisexposedtoelectrical
hazards.Theriskofanarcflashexplosionoccurringatyourfacilityisnotnegligible,andthetrendofincreased
powerusecombinedwithagingelectricalinfrastructureacrosstheU.S.heightensthedanger.TheElectrical
PowerResearchInstitute(EPRI)estimatesdirectandindirectcoststoanemployerfromafatalelectricalaccident
inthemillionsofdollars.

Navigatingalloftherequirements,conditions,andexceptionsthatresultfromtheseassessmentsrequiresa
greatfamiliaritywiththenewstandard.Specifically,NFPA70E2015Section130.4requiresthatashockrisk
assessmentbeperformedbeforebeginningenergizedwork,andNFPA70E2015Section130.5requiresthatan
arcflashriskassessmentbeperformedto:

1.Determinewhetheranarcflashhazardexists
2.Ifahazardexists
A.Determineappropriatesafetyrelatedworkpractices
B.Thearcflashboundary
C.ThePPEtobeused

Intheend,OSHAwillenforcecompliance,includingtherequirementthatanarcflashfiskassessmentbe
performed.Thecostsofanelectricalaccidentwouldvarybylocation,butwithoutexception,itwouldbefarmore
expensivetoallowonearcflashaccidenttooccurthanitwouldbetopreventit.Thefollowingstepswillhelp

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ensurethatyourarcflashriskassessmentsgoingforwardwillcomplywithbothOSHArequirementsandNFPA
70E2015.

Preparationandbidding

Developing,documenting,training,andimplementingsafetyprogramsandprocedurescanbeexpeditedwiththe
aidofthirdpartyexpertsinelectricalsafetyandassociatedregulationsandstandards.Anarcflashincident
energyanalysisisacomplexproject,andyoumayneedtosolicitbidsfrommultipleproviders.Notewhenyoure
puttingtogetherarequestforproposalthatitsimportantforallbidderstobidonthesamedeliverables.Lower
costbidsmayhaveitemsaddedafterthestudyisdonetocompleteathoroughanalysis.

Anarcflashincidentenergyanalysisisstillthefoundationuponwhichanaccurateriskassessmentisbuilt.Once
youhavetheincidentenergyanalysis,youcancompleteyourriskassessmentandprovideproperPPEandwork
practicesforyourworkers.Itisalwaysagoodideatorequestsamplesofanarcflashincidentenergyanalysis
reportfromeachpotentialserviceprovider.Whilethisreportisbasedontechnicaldata,youneedtoensurethat
thereportuseslanguageandformattingthatrelevantpersonnelwilleasilyunderstand.

Also,ensurethatthecompanyperformingtheanalysisadherestoastandardizedprocessinperformingevery
arcflashincidentenergyanalysis.ThiscorrelateswithIEEEStandard1584,Chapter4andIEEE1584.1.The
entireprojectalsoshouldbeperformedunderthesupervisionofaregisteredprofessionalengineer(PE).

Astandardanalysiswillapplytothreephaseequipmentrated240voltsorgreaterandthreephaseequipment
ratedlowerthan240voltswhenservedfromatransformer125kvaandlarger.Youwillneedtodetermine
whetheryouwantanexpandedscopethatincludes208voltthreephaseequipmentservedfromasmallerthan
125kvatransformerorDCequipmentrated50voltsorhigher.

Datacollection

Beforebeginningtheactualstudy,holdaprojectmeeting(viaconferencecalloronsite)withallpersonnelwho
willbeinvolvedtoestablishroles,responsibilities,andtheplanfordatagathering.Qualifiedstaffmustgatherdata
fromallapplicableelectricalequipment.Requiredinformationincludes:

Datafromtheutility,includingavailablefaultcurrent,operatingvoltage,andspecificsregardingtheutilitys
protectiveequipmentatthepointofservice
Specificsforeachprotectivedeviceintheelectricalsystem,includingmanufacturer,model,available
time/currentsettings,andshortcircuitinterruptingrating
Transformerimpedance,tapsettings,andratings
Conductorspecifics,includinglengths,sizes,andtypesofalloverheadlines,busducts,andcables

Powersystemmodeling

Onelinediagramsmustbedevelopedorupdatedtoshowthecurrentconfigurationandmodesofoperationfor
thepowersystem.Accurateelectricalsystemdrawingsarenecessarytoidentifypowersources,voltagelevels,
electricalequipment,andprotectivedevices.Ifyoualreadyhaveonelinediagrams,updatethedataandwork
fromthem,ifpossible.SKMPowerToolsforWindows,ETAP,andotheravailableengineeringsoftwareis
commonlyusedinthemodeling.

Shortcircuitstudy

Ashortcircuitstudyisrequiredtodeterminethemagnitudeofcurrentflowingthroughthepowersystematcritical
pointsatvarioustimeintervalsafterafaultoccurs.Thesecalculationswillbeusedtodeterminetheboltedfault
current,whichisessentialforthecalculationofincidentenergyandinterruptingratingsofyourequipment.

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Comparisonofequipmentratingswithcalculatedshortcircuitandoperatingconditionswillidentifyunderrated
equipment.

Related Content

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LearnwhatyouneedtodotocomplywithlatestNFPA70Esafetylabelingrules.

NFPA 70E 2015: What's changed and what you need to know
SignificantchangestoNFPA70Esince2012compelupdatedelectricalsafetytraining.

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Thisarticleexploreshowthegrowthofequipment,whennotproperlytrackedandmanaged,can

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