Safe Workplace and Safety News

OSHA announced today that it is opening the record on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on electric power generation, transmission, and distribution and for electrical protective equipment. This limited opening seeks to obtain comments related to safe proximity between a worker and exposed electrical parts.

OSHA published a proposed rule to revise the general industry and construction standards for electric power generation, transmission, and distribution and for electrical protective equipment, such as insulating blankets, gloves and rubber sleeves. That proposal included revised minimum approach distances (MAD) to determine how close a worker or an object that the worker is holding can get to an electrical part. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers later made further corrections for calculating MAD and the current proposed rule includes those revisions.

"We want to incorporate the most accurate data for keeping workers at safe distances from dangerous electrical sources," said acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab. "Extending this rulemaking process will provide us with the information we need to provide the best possible protection for working men and women."

A public hearing will be held Oct. 28 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The agency will accept comments on the proposed rule until Oct. 15. Interested parties who intend to speak at the hearing must submit notices of intention to appear no later than Oct. 1. Submit comments to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. OSHA-S215-2006-0063, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-2625, 200 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210. Comments may also be submitted to http://www.regulations.gov, the federal eRulemaking portal or faxed to the OSHA Docket Office at 202-693-1648.

Labels: Arc Flash, Electrical Hazards, electrical safety, OSHA, osha information

This is a promotional video for an arc flash shield, but it also provides an excellent view of the power of an arc flash blast.



Related past posts:
Is Your Electrical PPE Adequate?
New (arc flash) Safety Sign and Label Printer
Arc Flash Warning Labels

Labels: Arc Flash, Electrical Hazards, electrical safety, PPE

Arc flash is a significant hazard in the workplace. It is estimated that 5-10 arc flash injuries happen every day.

Labels: Arc Flash

Graphic Products has started shipping their new DuraLabel PRO 300 label and sign printer. This is a high resolution, 300 dpi, high speed industrial printer. It is suitable for printing self-adhesive safety and informational signs and labels such as: arc flash labels, RTK labels, OSHA safety signs, pipe markers, tamper evident labels and more.

The unique feature of this new label printer is that it combines high resolution printing with high speed printing. In the past high resolution label printing was slow. But, by incorporating high speeding digital processing the DuraLabel PRO 300 gets labels to start coming out of the printer sooner, resulting in faster printing.

The DuraLabel PRO 300 uses the continually growing line of DuraLabel PRO supplies. From continuous vinyl in over 30 colors, to specialty supplies such as oily surface labels and low temperature tapes. They are six types of die-cut RTK labels and a unique two-color continuous vinyl tape is only available for DuraLabel PRO printers. Supplies are available for making everything from reflective parking lot signs to small shrink tube labels for wires.

The DuraLabel PRO 300 is the industrial label printer that gets the job done... and gets it done right. Visit the DuraLabel PRO 300 web site for more information www.DuraLabelPRO.com

Labels: Arc Flash, rtk labels, safety labels, safety signs

A growing safety issue is that of arc flash protection and determining the proper PPE. An article in Maintenance Technology magazine addresses this topic. The problem is that PPE requirements are based on tests that may not be reflecting real-life situations. The article states:

"Recent research into arc flash phenomena, however, indicates that workers could be under-protected against the heat generated during an arc flash event. Test results presented at IEEE conferences and at the 2007 IEEE Electrical Safety Workshop show that different configurations of electrodes (conductors) yielded heat energy higher than current predictions due to the directional nature of the arc development. Additionally, initial tests of PPE, when placed within this directional plasma fl ow, did not provide the level of thermal protection predicted by its APTV."

You can read the article at: http://www.mt-online.com/articles/0507_electricalsafety.cfm

Labels: Arc Flash, Electrical Hazards, PPE

The title of the Power Magazine article is: "Arc flash protection should be job No. 1"

The opening paragraph of the article states:

"Arc flash is arguably the most deadly and least understood hazard faced daily by plant personnel. Research indicates that even the best safety plan, training regimen, and protective equipment may be no match for the heat and blast effects of an arc flash. Consider this article a wakeup call to retrofit every switchgear cubicle in your plant with a properly designed remote racking system. Forewarned is forearmed."

The first part of this article describes the mechanisms resulting from an arc flash that cause injuries or death. These range from the thermal energy, blast effects, high sound levels, toxic gases, shrapnel, electromagnetic radiation and other effects. This is probably the most complete description of arc flash effects that I've seen in a single article.

The second half of the article describes the research planned by the IEEE/NFPA Collaboration on Arc Flash Phenomena. The article states, "The IEEE/NFPA Arc Flash Collaborative Research Project is a multiyear effort encompassing more than 2,000 test protocols."

"The initial phase of the project will explore published and unpublished information on arc flash and blast to build a coherent picture of what is known about these phenomena. This will lead to a research and test plan that seeks to tie the electrical characteristics of equipment to arc-fault hazards. The program will go well beyond what was done in the past. For instance, most arc fault studies to date have involved controlled conditions and stabilized arcs between opposing electrodes. In real life, turbulent arcs often occur between parallel electrodes and vary by several orders of magnitude along their length and with time."

The above link goes to the online version of this article. The print version includes an excellent side-bar article about Wolf Creek Generating Station that is not provided in the online version. This short article describes the process the Wolf Creek Plant Safety Committee went through that resulted in their purchasing a remote-racking system for racking in breakers. The article stated:

"Plant management realized that safer work practices and buying higher-rated safety gear was no longer the answer: Somehow, technicians and bystanders had to be safely separated from the source of the arc flash."

The Wolf Creek plant chose the Safe-T-Rack (STR) remote racking system from Switchgear Solutions. The article gave this reason: "One of the key selection criteria was that the system required no internal switchgear cabinet rewiring. Because those cabinets are part of the plant's safety systems, the time and cost to design, approve, and update hundreds of drawings could exceed the capital cost of the STR system."

Labels: Arc Flash

A free online Arc Flash Safety Quiz is available on the Arc Flash Labels and Signs web site. Take this short 12 question quiz and compare how you did on each question with others who have taken the quiz.

Labels: Arc Flash

In addition to this blog I write a blog specifically about electrical safety. Yesterday I posted a video on my Arc Flash and Electrical Safety blog that I've not been able to get out of my head. I woke up this morning with this video in my thoughts.

Many of the industrial safety videos I've seen, particularly those about arc flash safety, present gruesome images of injured workers. This video has those images, but it is very different. It shows the importance of love in industrial safety. "Love" and "industrial safety" are two phrases that don't seem to belong together, but "this video demonstrates that they do very much belong together.

The video, called "Donnie's Accident" was made by Donnie's family. It demonstrates the importance of love for your family; love for your children; love for your wife and because of this love why industrial safety is so important.

Use either of the above links to see the Donnie's Accident video.

Labels: Arc Flash, Safety Training, safety videos

"The conflict between keeping machines running and maintaining a safe working environment always will exist. Fortunately, advances in machine automation and safety systems are like having a guardian angel on your shoulder, minimizing tradeoffs between uptime and safety."

The above summarizes an article in the April 2nd issue of Plant Services magazine. It presents the "old-school versus new" school approach to machine and process safety, and shows how automation can improve safety and productivity through capabilities such as predictive maintanance.

The article reports:

"The diagnostic information provided by automated safety systems not only helps plant personnel find the problem, it also can help when planning repairs. 'We use sensors and instrumentation to ascertain the state of the machine so the operators know the tasks to be performed before they enter into the hazard area,' reports Mike Harrington, director of engineering at Alliance Machine Systems, a builder of automation and material handling equipment for corrugated box plants. Knowing what tasks need to be performed beforehand allows manuals and procedures to be reviewed before starting work."

Labels: Arc Flash, safety automation, workplace safety

This NFPA article is subtitled "Fitting the Puzzle Pieces Together to Provide Worker Safety".

The article begins by noting that "There are so many codes and standards for electrical safety it seems that the requirements become more complicated with each standard’s revision." It then provides help make clear the answers safety questions that appear complicated.

It covers the following topics:

• Routine maintenance with catastrophic results


• The work place was more dangerous in 1970


• OSHA’s general duty clause


• OSHA and NFPA 70E


• How does the NEC fit into the puzzle?


• Best electrical safety practice – de-energize


• Electrical hazards in the workplace


• The pieces fit, puzzle solved!

Take a look at this article for a better understanding of OSHA, and how OSHA, NFPA and NEC work together to produce regulations and codes to improve worker safety.

Labels: Arc Flash, OSHA

There has been a growing awareness of the hazards produced by arc flash. A critical component of an arc flash safety program is labeling. One of our other web safety related sites is dedicated to arc flash warning labels. The site has information about labels and label printers. It also has an excellent blog that regularly posts links to magazine articles and arc flash safety resources. This is blog to add to your RSS subscription list as it will help you keep up to date on arc flash and NFPA 70E news.

Labels: Arc Flash, workplace safety