An electric arc flash releases dangerous level of pressure waves, sound waves, molten metal and shrapnel that may lead to several hazards which can disabling in nature. If caution is not taken arc flash may lead to blindness, bursting of eardrums, electric shock, severe burns, lung injuries and shrapnel wounds. The severity of these hazards is dependent on the power of the arc, duration for which it occurs and the distance of the worker from the site of occurrence.

Why arc flash is dangerous

You can imagine how devastating an arc flash can be, as sometimes the molten material hit the human body at a speed of 700 miles per hour. With such devastating consequence, and the fact that most of the damage is irreversible, it is essential that production / manufacturing facilities incorporate electric arc flash safety training program for their selected workers.

Need for arc flash fire safety training

Every company should ensure that they have undergone arc flash safety training exercise. This fire safety training exercise educates workers on how the chances of an electric arc flash can be reduced. And in case, an electric arc flash still happens, how the damage can be minimized.

Crucial aspects of arc flash fire safety training

The most important aspect of electric arc flash fire safety training program is educating the management about the hazards of electric arc flash by showing them videos of the potential hazards of an electric arc flash. Once such videos are shown, the management is in a better position to appreciate the need for safety and preventive measures.

The electric arc flash safety training program also educates the management about the various important safety standards – NFPA-70E (US National Fire Protection Association standard), Canadian Standards Association – Standard Z-462, US Occupational safety and health administration (OSHA 1910), IEEE Standards, that they need to incorporate in their practices.

Another important part of the electric arc flash safety training exercise is educating the worker on the potential tasks that can cause an electric flash like opening a switch or circuit breaker, removing a circuit breaker, removing a cover, testing for voltage. The worker is trained on the dos and don’ts while carrying out these activities.

The electric arc flash fire safety training program also involves educating the management on the measures they can adopt to minimize the chances of occurrence of an electric arc flash and also reduce the potential strength of the electric arc flash, so that the damage caused is minimal in nature. These measures primarily relate to minimizing the potential fault current strength and duration and the usage of flash resistant equipment.

Need for arc flash analysis

A crucial aspect of the electric arc flash study would be to help organizations get an arc flash analysis done of their manufacturing set up. The safety program would educate the company about available software that would help do a hazard analysis (potential of an electric arc, flash protection boundary, incident energy exposure). The exact kind of clothing required for the workers would be decided based on this hazard analysis. This will help them incorporate safety measures that are customized to the scale of hazard that exists at their specific manufacturing set up.