DuPont claims that electrical arc, and the resulting “arc flash”, are among the deadliest, least understood hazards of electricity”, and can potentially occur in many industrial and other applications, including hospital plant rooms.
Technical and engineering personnel from DuPont Engineering Technology, DuPont Personal Protection, and external independent experts, have thus collaborated to develop “a European approach to electrical arc risk assessment”. The resulting free online resource, the DuPont Arc-Guide, sets out key steps to minimise serious arc flash incident risk, and details a range of optional, paid-for tailored risk assessment services, and an accompanying secure web portal, offering more in-depth guidance on this important, but apparently often overlooked, issue. HEJ editor Jonathan Baillie reports.
According to DuPont – which held a “webinar” recently to highlight the new guide’s launch – while European legislation requires businesses and other organisations to perform regular risk assessments for all work activities and tasks, “electrical arc is often overlooked because most people are unsure how to assess and manage the hazard effectively”. The resulting danger is that the potential risks of an arc hazard incident which, at the very least, can cause second degree burns to those working on electrical equipment, and, at worst, may lead to a sizeable explosion and death or serious injury (see panel on page 38), are often underestimated, and even ignored, until too late. It is hoped, therefore, that the new freeto- access online guide, and (for those that sign up to pay to use them), an optional accompanying pre-assessment service, plus access to a secure portal providing further tools and information, will help duty holders and building owners including hospital estates and facilities teams, as well as external contractors undertaking electrical work on site, to “understand, evaluate, and reduce, the severities and consequences of electrical arc hazards”. Among the many instances where electrical arc hazard may be present highlighted by the guide are:
• Testing.
• Visual and infrared inspections.
• Manipulation of live conductors.
• Switching/racking breakers.
• Installation of cables into energised equipment.
• Removal and replacement of live components.
• Replacement of fuses and links.
• Live underground cable jointing.
• Inadvertent energised equipment penetrations. “Risk enhancing situations”, meanwhile, include:
• Poor equipment maintenance.
• Poor/“old” equipment design and installation.
• Poor equipment commissioning and initial inspection
• Poor worker competence.
• Human error
• Lack of concentration and distraction.
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