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This paper will review hazards associated with work performed near overhead power lines and review various mitigation strategies used to prevent accidental contact.
While performing routine construction work on a new indoor substation which was replacing an existing substation, a contact employee cut into shielded medium voltage cable that was energized at 13,800 volts phase-to-phase. This paper describes how management systems failed and allowed this to happen, and describes lessons learned from the incident.
Until the late 1980's it was believed that the mechanisms of electrical injury had been identified and thoroughly explored. In rare instances where people presented with symptomatology that was inconsistent with known mechanisms, the symptoms were thought to be of psychological (non-organic) origin. In the last two decades a broader set of symptoms has been found to be linked to contact with energized...
Garments respond differently to four types of arc exposures. Moisture in arc exposed garments can alter their appearance in ways not typically observed in standardized arc flash testing such as ASTM F1959, IEC 61482-1-1, IEC 61482-1-2 or ASTM F2621. Color change commonly seen in garments exposed to standard tests do not occur as expected when garments are moist. This information may be useful in accident...
This paper reviews some of the more common electrical safety myths and misconceptions field electrical workers often have. Many of these misconceptions continue in spite of training and education. Some are handed down from worker to worker, similar to tribal knowledge. The real danger from these misconceptions is that they impede the truth and cause electrical workers to misjudge hazards and risks.
Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters (AFCIs) are required by the National Electrical Code to further reduce the hazards resulting from residential electrical fires. The UL 1699 Standard contains the testing and certification requirements for various types of AFCIs. Both the NEC and UL 1699 Standard are American National Standards Institute documents, established through the ANSI consensus process. Using...
This case study will be a chronicle of events that were encountered through on site interactions with electrical workers, corporate managers and safety professionals at a large national hospital facility during an arc flash/blast incident in a utility vault that severely burned an experienced electrical worker, an experienced utility worker and a hospital maintenance director. The goal of this presentation...
Operation of electrical power systems is often accomplished safely through the use of planned, written switching orders or procedures. These procedures are usually step by step executable plans detailing the necessary actions to energize, de-energize, isolate, or alter the configuration of an electrical system for maintenance. Written switching procedures afford the electrical operations crew the...
Auditing is a critical element of an electrical safety program. It is the verification of what is working and what is not working within company policies, procedures, and programs. It identifies gaps in a company's standards, programs and work practices that do not meet the local or federal regulations or industry consensus standards, such as NFPA 70E and/or CSA Z462 that apply to the facility. There...
This is a testimony by an individual performing the actual work. The incident occurred while re-lamping high bay lights from a man lift at 140′ elevation. The breakers were opened per the documentation from a recent NFPA 70E [1] study that was being conducted. As the bolt was touched to open the access cover to the power connections to verify that all power was off, a sensation of electrical shock...
Selecting proper transformer winding connections along with the neutral grounding has played an important role in the design and applications of power system protection scheme at all levels for many decades. This paper addresses how a transformer connection and the grounding currently utilized in various distributed generation projects can have a considerable impact in the future on a utilities distribution...
This paper explores Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) and Electrical Safety. Section 130.5 of NFPA 70E® Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace states that “the arc flash hazard analysis shall take into consideration the design of the overcurrent protection device and its opening time, including its condition of maintenance”. This very important concept of “the maintenance condition”...
This paper examines cultural drift with respect to occupational electrical safety. It poses the question of how the reduction in occupational electrocution fatalities over the past 40 years could present new challenges in maintaining electrical safety vigilance today, including the impact on electrical injury-related risk perceptions of workers, supervision and management. The paper discusses how...
It has been stated that roughly 50% of electrical incidents involve workers whose primary function is not electrical in nature. It also encouraged all to “address electrical safety for all workers and not just workers whose job responsibilities involve working on or near energized electrical circuits.” In this paper, a program which includes specific briefings to non-electrical workers as well as...
Statistically, electricity is one of the most dangerous hazards in the workplace. So why is it so hard to convince some managers and executives to prioritize vital programs that could save lives, save money, ensure process uptime, increase and protect profitability? The reason is simple: people and organizations only change when they are sufficiently motivated, or when change is forced upon them....
In low-voltage systems, ground-faults do not necessarily involve the actual earth, but fault currents may return to the source via conductors; such conductors, which provide a clear path toward the source, are defined in applicable codes and technical standards as equipment grounding conductors or protective conductors.
This is a case study of an arc flash remediation project at three electrical utility generation plants. We review the engineering technologies and safe work practices utilized to reduce the arc flash incident energy values identified during the project. Several technical challenges unique to the electric utility industry had to be overcome to substantially reduce incident energy levels. This paper...
This paper will begin by detailing the powerline contact statistics from Ontario and other parts of Canada using the latest metrics and dashboards. This will back up and verify the USA research presented last year at the 2012 ESW. The culture for those working in proximity needs to be changed as these statistics are just not acceptable.
An effective electrical safety program is the key to reducing electrical injuries in the workplace. The Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) has developed a new workplace safety awareness program to assist safety professionals and facility managers with the development or improvement of electrical safety programs. Encouraging a proactive approach to electrical safety, the How Do You Know?...
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