Arc Flash Study

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Davebones

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North Of Tampa Fl
My boss gets to go before the Plant Manager to justify why we need to spend the money to do a arc flash study . We are a Aerospace manufacturing plant with about 500 employees . We have 480V through out the plant , three services , 4000 amp , two 1600 amp . Just looking for some thoughts on what you would tell a plant manager . My boss understands its in 70E but any thoughts would be appreciated ....
 
general duty clause

general duty clause

SEC. 5. Duties
(a) Each employer --


(1) shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees;

(2) shall comply with occupational safety and health standards promulgated under this Act.

29 USC 654
(b) Each employee shall comply with occupational safety and health standards and all rules, regulations, and orders issued pursuant to this Act which are applicable to his own actions and conduct.

If there is a consensus standard in the industry available that informs you of recognized hazards, you have a duty to protect your employees from them whether it is listed in the 1910 book or not.

Italics are mine
 
Davebones said:
My boss gets to go before the Plant Manager to justify why we need to spend the money to do a arc flash study . We are a Aerospace manufacturing plant with about 500 employees . We have 480V through out the plant , three services , 4000 amp , two 1600 amp . Just looking for some thoughts on what you would tell a plant manager . My boss understands its in 70E but any thoughts would be appreciated ....
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I guess a lot depends on why this came up in the first place.

It needs to be done.

Either now before it is some kind of problem, or after an incident.

Keep in mind that the study will be the cheap part, and only the first step. Training, signing, and gear are not cheap. And the increased labor costs to do what are now mundane tasks but will be transformed into major headaches are what will cost the real money. People do not like to talk about it but I have heard that in some plants it will double their cost for electrical labor.

An associated issue is down time. A lot of places are running very lean with as little down time as possible. Following the rules, especially those about not working on energized equipment, is certainly going to result in a lot more down time. Lots more.
 
OSHA violations can result in a lot of bad publicity. (See the OSHA violations posted on our blog. http://powerstudies.tumblr.com/)

The real expense can come after OSHA has fined a company for lack of training and PPE. Once the employee hears of the violation, then attorneys are hired and this can get very expensive.
 
I've done several presentation on 70E to management and I always end my presentation with " its the right thing to do".
 
Davebones said:
My immediate boss had the question about why our insurance carrier does not require proof that a Arc Flash Study was done ?????
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Because it does not really change anything risk wise for the insurance carrier.

These kind of incidents are not real common and the little bit of mitigation this would result in for the carrier is not worth making it mandatory for the carrier.

In any case, just doing the study does not change a thing. people can and will still get hurt in arc flash incidents.
 
The best way I have seen to explain the need for arc flash study is to make an analogy to MSDS sheets. If you had a 55 gal drum at your plant with no labeling, how would you deal with it. No idea of the danger contained in that barrel. Is it corrosive, explosive etc. Proper labeling is the law and the fines would be large but as someone else said it is the right thing to do.

Well, working on an electrical panel without an arc flash study is just like that unlabeled barrel. The electrical worker has no idea of the risks. The arc flash study will provide labels for all electrical panels that will help all to understand the risk.
 
petersonra said:
Because it does not really change anything risk wise for the insurance carrier.

These kind of incidents are not real common and the little bit of mitigation this would result in for the carrier is not worth making it mandatory for the carrier.

In any case, just doing the study does not change a thing. people can and will still get hurt in arc flash incidents.
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I guess this means that we should all forget about doing coordinated arc flash studies. Heck, while we are at it, let's just forget about working safely and wearing PPE, because even though we might do it, John Doe out in the middle of nowhere might not and he is going to get hurt anyway. How absurd.

Arc flash studies are part of the process of trying to establish a safe electrical working environment. Just the same as labels that indicate voltage levels or any other labels. Are people still going to get hurt? Yes, but that doesn't mean that we should throw caution into the wind.
 
Arc Flash Study

Its Management duty and responsibiliy to anticipate work place hazards and implement processes to save lives and prevent property damage.
 
eric7379 said:
I guess this means that we should all forget about doing coordinated arc flash studies. Heck, while we are at it, let's just forget about working safely and wearing PPE, because even though we might do it, John Doe out in the middle of nowhere might not and he is going to get hurt anyway. How absurd.

Arc flash studies are part of the process of trying to establish a safe electrical working environment. Just the same as labels that indicate voltage levels or any other labels. Are people still going to get hurt? Yes, but that doesn't mean that we should throw caution into the wind.
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I don't disagree with anything you posted.

My point was that it is just one step, and probably the least expensive part of the process, and by itself changes nothing.

IMO, it is not fair to your bosses to not tell them the whole truth about what they are getting into, even though they really don't have many legit choices as to what they do.
 
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