An Economical Way to Do Arc Flash Assessments
Much is being written about arc flash assessments using NFPA 70E. FDRsafety is being contacted by small and medium size enterprises bemoaning quotes of $75,000 to $150,000 just to do the calculations.
We’re often asked, “Do we have to do this?” The answer is “no,” but you need to do something to establish due diligence and compliance with OSHA. FDRsafety has an approach to arc flash assessments designed to help you achieve those objectives.
First, it’s important to understand the foundations of law and regulation in our country. The OSH Act requires that employers “shall furnish to each of their 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 their employees.” The provisions of CFR 1910.331 through 1910.335 cover electrical safety-related work practices. These regulations tell you what to do, but not how to do it.
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has issued a national consensus standard (NFPA 70E) that deals with electrical safety and provides guidance for the “how.” Typically, this is done by risk assessment calculations of the energy potential to guide selection of PPE or use of the tables in the Annex. With the guidance of an experienced electrical engineer, FDRsafety has developed a unique approach to help our clients with arc flash assessments.
Our experienced experts will guide clients through a collaborative process to identify potential arc flash hazards and put in place appropriate arc flash protection. We work with your maintenance staff to achieve acceptable risk while recognizing the realities facing maintenance workers. Our approach is patterned after “train the trainer” concepts. We provide the guidance and materials for your staff to do work without us present. Identification of hazards, risk assessment, electrical safe work procedures, training and selection of appropriate PPE is a collaborative effort with the client. FDRsafety will provide documentation to validate due diligence in providing arc flash protection for your workers.
FDRsafety experts will be onsite for four sessions spread out to allow work to be performed in between each session. These two- to three-day sessions are designed to fit the client’s schedule.
FDRsafety will provide documentation and training materials, including:
- Overall process
- Findings
- Training materials
- Risk assessment forms, manuals and slides
- Records to show due diligence of work done so that acceptable risk is obtained
Your team will have both the competence and confidence to answer questions should OSHA knock and ask, “What are you doing about electrical safe work practices?”
If you want the comfort of knowing you’ve done the right thing to protect your workers, being able to declare OSHA compliance and saving tens of thousands of dollars, contact me.