ARC Flash Hazard Analysis: Impact, Control & Safety

Electrical safety
 

Electrical safety is an important issue for those working on electrical facilities in utility networks and large industrial installations. A number of serious accidents, including fatalities, occur every year due to accidents involving electricity, resulting in huge financial losses and wasted man-hours. Arc flashes in electrical equipment are now considered one of the major causes of electrical accidents, even surpassing the well-known hazards of electric shock. Avoiding arc flash incidents and the resulting injuries is one of the major challenges facing electrical workers today and requires adequate attention in the stages of system planning, design, installation, operation, and maintenance.
 

Injuries due to arc flash can depend on many factors, one of which is the incident thermal energy on a worker exposed to a flash. Today, a considerable body of knowledge exists as a result of research efforts and is available to designers and maintenance engineers in the form of standards such as IEEE 1584 and NFPA 70E. This program will detail the basis of this approach and also the major advances that have been made in the area of PPE made of FR fabrics and rated for different levels of thermal exposure. Prevention, however, still remains the best form of protection, and switchgear manufacturers have made considerable design advances to ensure that the effect of arc flash incidents is contained within the enclosure of switchgear (often called arc flash resistant switchgear), and methods of testing such switchgear have also evolved simultaneously. Another important factor is the approach to avoid arc incidents within the switchgear by proper design and maintenance, and techniques to reduce the severity of the flash should such incidents occur.

• The importance of arc flash accident prevention in medium and high voltage electrical installations
• The necessity of working safely
• The dangers and hazards of high-voltage electrical faults
• How to avoid accidents at your workplace
• Refresh your knowledge of the importance of safety in high-voltage installations
• Understand the hazards of electricity
• Identify the dangers and risks of accidents in a high-voltage installation
• Appreciate the principles of safety cultures
• Be careful and aware of arc flash accidents
• Recognize the effort of safety committees and their recommendations