The FLASH
Welcome to our first Arc Flash news letter. In coming months, you’ll find useful hints on selecting clothing to protect electricians, news on the upcoming adoption of the CSAZ462 spec, and other helpful ideas.
THIS MONTH
CSA Z462 Update
Pitfalls to avoid when developing an Arc Flash Safety Program
What’s a Shock Protection Boundary and how does it differ from an Arc Flash Protection Boundary ?
Sales Tip of the Month
Insulated Tool standards
CSA Z462 is the HOT TOPIC in Canada.
The CSAZ462 standard is intended to harmonize the US and Canadian standards on electrical safety in the workplace. The new CSA standard will closely mirror the NFPA 70E standard concerning arc flash protection. Our latest information is that we see the publication of this spec in the middle of 2009. CSA Z462 will be published immediately after the NFPA 70E (2009 edition) which is expected to be published in the spring of 2009. When the CSA standard is published, it will not be law, but simply a highly recommended standard that should be used in the industry. Until then, forward thinking and safety minded companies will continue to use the NFPA 70 E guidelines.
Once published in both official languages, CSA Z462 will be submitted to the Standards Council of Canada for approval as a national standard. The first edition of CSA Z462 will initially be considered a voluntary best practices standard for use anywhere in Canada. Each province and the federal government may choose to reference it in regulations, which will make it mandatory. Industry “people in the know” think that all the provinces and the CEC will adopt the standard as code as soon as it is published.
8 Pitfalls to Avoid While Developing an Arc Flash Safety Program
Relying on PPE tables only instead of arc flash calculations
In many cases, you can engineer arc flash hazards to much lower levels after seeing the results of an arc flash hazard calculation.
Failing to perform a device coordination study
Coordination studies are essential to a proper arc flash hazard assessment. Proper high speed current limiting devices can virtually eliminate high risk arc flash hazards in some cases.
Guessing on your hazard level instead of collecting it from the field
There is NO ROOM for guessing in the area of employee protection. For instance, a hazard classed as Class 2 under NFPA 70E rules could be anywhere from 8 cal/cm² to 24 cal/cm². The difference in the damage that could be done by these two hazards is enormous. Guessing is not an option.
Buying arc flash gear without knowing what you need
As in the previous point, guessing is not an option. Employers need to buy the proper clothing to protect employees. There are several ratings of arc flash gear for each arc flash boundary, and you need to know who is going to do the work and where he will be within that boundary. On the other hand, over-buying clothing (i.e. buying clothing that far exceeds the requirement of the hazards in the workplace) is a big mistake, because it will hinder the worker’s ability to do his job in a timely manner, and could hinder his visibility and movement.
Failing to train electricians on arc flash safety
A properly trained electrician is a major asset to a company when it comes to safe work practices. Proper training saves lives. Period.
Lacking a detailed safety program and safe work practices and not implementing a hot work permit requirement and job planning/briefing for all live electrical work
Safe work practices will be mandated in the new CSA standards, including such things as “hot work” permits. OSHA in the United States has some great approaches to this problem, and the NFPA 70E is a great standard to work with concerning this issue.
Failing to keep your one-line drawings up-to-date
Keeping your one line drawings up to date allows qualified assessors to make accurate assessments of your arc flash hazard levels quickly and effectively.
Forgetting about shock
Arc flash is getting a great deal of attention these days. However, although more serious injuries are caused by arc flash, more fatal injuries are caused by shock. Remember that this is a separate and equally important part of writing an electrical safety policy.
What’s a Shock Protection Boundary ?
There are three different levels of approach boundaries: prohibited, restricted and limited. To see the approach boundary chart showing the distances relating to different voltages, please check the NFPA 70E annex C.
Limited
NFPA 70 E defines a limited approach boundary as “ an approach limit at a distance from an exposed live part within which a shock hazard exists” An unqualified person cannot cross the boundary unless escorted by a qualified person. Remember that this boundary includes people that may not be involved in working on the equipment-- an office worker, walking though a plant to go to the lunch room could conceivably wander into a limited approach area. Please also note that arc flash boundaries can extend further than shock protection boundaries, and if the flash boundary is inside the limited approach boundary, then the limited approach boundary is the closest that an unqualifed person may approach.
Restricted
This is “an approach limit at a distance from an exposed live part within which there is an increased risk of shock, due to electrical arc over combined with inadvertent movement for personnel working in close proximity to the live part.” Basically what this means is that anyone within the restricted boundary could get shocked or hurt in an arc blast and should be properly protected against that happening.
Prohibited
This is an approach limit from an exposed live part within which work is considered the same as making contact with the live part.
OK, so what’s an arc flash boundary ?
This is “an approach limit at a distance from exposed live parts within which a person could receive a second degree burn if an electrical arc flash were to occur.” NFPA 70E and several other standards tell us that a worker will suffer a second degree burn in an arc flash that produces 1.2 cal/cm² at the worker’s position. An arc flash boundary then tells us how far away from an arc flash we need to be to receive 1.2 cal/cm² of incident energy or less. Remember that high hazard arc flash explosions can produce serious injuries up to 20 feet away from the source. You should also note that if there is no possibility of an arc flash (de-energized and in an electrically safe work condition) there is no need for an arc flash boundary.
Proper PPE has to be worn when you are doing the following:
-load interruption and visual inspection
-lock out/ tag out
-testing for the absence of voltage
-applying or removing grounds (temporary or permanent)
Sales tip for this month
One of the questions I hear a great deal is “ Why should I buy this if it’s not “code”.
The answer is pretty straight forward, and can be very effective. If a facility has identified, quantified, and labeled a hazard, or even if they haven’t but know that the hazard exists, what sense does it make to send an electrician out to do a job on the equipment in question without the proper protection. It’s bordering on immoral to do this, and electricians who are faced with employers who do this should absolutely refuse to work live. Whether we’re talking about lock-out/tag-out, arc flash protection, insulated tools or other safety equipment, isn’t all about the worker ? Isn’t it all about getting him home at night ? Does anything else matter when an electrician is working in a dangerous environment ?
Insulated tools
Did you know that the Canadian government has adopted the IEC60900-2004 standard for testing insulated tools, and that the ASTM specification and the UL listing boasted by some manufacturers is no longer valid in Canada ? That’s not to say that their tools aren’t good tools and properly insulated, but if you get into a situation where the customer wants to make sure that the tools meet current standards, it’s good to know that CIMCO tools all meet and are tested to the IEC spec.