Arc Flash & Shock Equipment Labels
Terry Becker, P.Eng., CESCP, IEEE Senior Member
TAKE CONTROL of ARC FLASH! Electrical Safety Specialist, Management Consultant - helping employers take control of electrical hazard management with validated residual risk at TW Becker Electrical Safety Consulting Inc.
I have been completing External Electrical Safety Audits and reviewing Arc Flash Hazard Incident Energy Analysis Reports and unfortunately continue to identify problems with recommended or installed Arc Flash & Shock Warning & Danger Equipment Labels. This isn't something new, but a problem I identified over the last 12 years of completing electrical safety consulting. Thought I would post an Article again on this.
A lot of confusion and incorrect Equipment Labels has been exasperated with the templated label libraries in power system software. This occurred because the power system software included a column in the arc flash results table generated that equated incident energy levels to HRC 2, HRC 3, or HRC 4 incorrectly. Over the years this has caused miss understanding with respect to how arc flash PPE is specified.
Arc Flash & Shock Equipment Labels should never have included an HRC #, Arc Flash PPE Category #, CAT #, or Level indicated with a letter e.g. A, B, C, D or E.
Any recommendations included on the Arc Flash & Shock Equipment Label for arc flash PPE should point the employer's Electrical Safety Program or to NFPA 70E or CSA Z462.
In the 2018 Editions of NFPA 70E and CSA Z462 to clarify confusion a Table in Annex H was extracted and moved to the main body of both Standards so it is now explicit that when incident energy analysis is completed arc flash PPE is selected based on two incident energy levels:
NFPA 70E Table 130.5(G) Selection of Arc-Rated Clothing and Other PPE When the Incident Energy Analysis Method is Used. This is Table 3 in CSA Z462.
In Table 130.5(G) or Table 3 when incident energy analysis has been completed it is recommended that arc flash PPE be specified with two chooses 1.2 to 12.0 cal/cm2 or greater than 12.0 cal/cm2 (this would be an arc flash suit, 40, 76, 106 or 140 cal/cm2 ATPV, all are applicable, 40 cal/cm2 is not a cut-off incident energy level for energized electrical work tasks).
Ultimately the employer should specify the arc flash PPE they will procure and provide to Qualified Electrical Worker's in their Electrical Safety Program.
If you want to discuss the above don't hesitate to contact me at [email protected] or by phone 1-587-433-3777.
Thanks for the post.
TAKE CONTROL of ARC FLASH! Electrical Safety Specialist, Management Consultant - helping employers take control of electrical hazard management with validated residual risk at TW Becker Electrical Safety Consulting Inc.
5 年It wasn't clarified until the 2018 Edition of NFPA 70E with the Annex H Table been moved to 130.5(G).? The power system software and electrical engineers completing arc flash incident energy analysis studies trusted the software and also wrongly accepted the "results table" column with HRC #, Cat #s, etc..? The results table should not include this column and the Arc Flash & Shock Equipment Label should not include an HRC #, Cat # or Level "letter" for arc flash PPE.? Arc flash PPE is rated with an Arc Thermal Performance Value (ATPV).? The Qualified Electrical Worker selects arc flash PPE with an ATPV equal to or greater than the calculated incident energy level.
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5 年?it is clarified since earlier revisions, at least 2015 regarding PPE selection. It depends which method you will use: table method (PPE levels) or incident energy calculation (ATPV)