Hawaii Mike Dillard
New member
- Location
- Hawaii
Aloha from sunny Oahu!
Quick question for the forum: what are the pros and cons of using the NFPA 70E Table Method in Annex D to calculate incident energy?
I was recently contacted by one of my customers. They told me that an infrared company approached them about performing an arc flash hazard assessment without any field verification or engineering, thus cutting the cost of the assessment in half. This company would come onsite and put the arc flash labels on the equipment without actually performing any field verification, coordination study, or mitigation; all of these things would be provided to the customer at an additional cost, if the customer wanted it. First of all, I'm not even sure how anyone can say that they are performing an arc flash hazard assessment without doing field verification, coordination study, and providing mitigation. I figure that this company probably bought the EasyPower software and are utilizing the NFPA 70E Table method. It was to my understanding that technically speaking, these tables can be used to calculate generic incident energy amounts. A contractor would basically be using this if the incident energy information wasn't available and they needed to determine what PPE to wear. However, it is to my understanding that this method of incident energy calculation is in no ways meant to replace the performance of an arc flash hazard assessment, as it is not specific enough per each piece of equipment being assessed. Using the table method doesn't negate the necessity of performing field verification, a coordination study, or providing mitigation for the assessment. The labels are a result of performing a proper arc flash hazard assessment. If field verification isn't taken into account, the calculations for PPE won't be specific enough, and the recommended PPE on the label may be inaccurate. This may falsely lead an employee or contractor to utilize the wrong PPE and place themselves at risk of injury and/or death. I want to educate my customers and make sure that they are not inadvertently opening themselves up to liability all for the sake of saving a few dollars.
Thanks for your input.
Hawaii Mike :bye:
Quick question for the forum: what are the pros and cons of using the NFPA 70E Table Method in Annex D to calculate incident energy?
I was recently contacted by one of my customers. They told me that an infrared company approached them about performing an arc flash hazard assessment without any field verification or engineering, thus cutting the cost of the assessment in half. This company would come onsite and put the arc flash labels on the equipment without actually performing any field verification, coordination study, or mitigation; all of these things would be provided to the customer at an additional cost, if the customer wanted it. First of all, I'm not even sure how anyone can say that they are performing an arc flash hazard assessment without doing field verification, coordination study, and providing mitigation. I figure that this company probably bought the EasyPower software and are utilizing the NFPA 70E Table method. It was to my understanding that technically speaking, these tables can be used to calculate generic incident energy amounts. A contractor would basically be using this if the incident energy information wasn't available and they needed to determine what PPE to wear. However, it is to my understanding that this method of incident energy calculation is in no ways meant to replace the performance of an arc flash hazard assessment, as it is not specific enough per each piece of equipment being assessed. Using the table method doesn't negate the necessity of performing field verification, a coordination study, or providing mitigation for the assessment. The labels are a result of performing a proper arc flash hazard assessment. If field verification isn't taken into account, the calculations for PPE won't be specific enough, and the recommended PPE on the label may be inaccurate. This may falsely lead an employee or contractor to utilize the wrong PPE and place themselves at risk of injury and/or death. I want to educate my customers and make sure that they are not inadvertently opening themselves up to liability all for the sake of saving a few dollars.
Thanks for your input.
Hawaii Mike :bye: