Electrical and Arc Flash Safety

No word on how this happened.  Usually someone THINKS the line is de-energized and it is not.  Simple work practices make electrical safety as much a habit as other types of safety.
Click here to read about the electrocution in Moorehead, KY

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Kleen Energy explosion included “Citations …for failing to install & use electrical equipment in accordance with its listing and labeling.”  OSHA and the NEC (NFPA 70) which is law in most states require electrical equipment be used in accordance with its listing and labeling.  It is all to common to find citations on this even in new [...]

A General Electric employee and a Centerpoint Energy employee were injured in a shock incident inside their work truck.  There are rules in OSHA 1910.269 and the NESC about mobile equipment in proximity to power lines.  Many different things can happen in the work place.  Often we find human error is at play in these incidents.  We [...]

Question: Can we use metal snaps on shirts for NFPA 70E?  Our traditional shirts have snaps and we are wearing arc rated t-shirts for daily wear then putting on arc rated long sleeved shirts for energized work.
 Answer:  Good question! This opens up how standards work and are often misinterpreted.
 NFPA 70E says 130.6 (D) “Conductive articles of jewelry [...]

This citation raises the stakes against the USPS to almost $4 million in fines.  I’m very sure this will NOT be paid in full.  Just a strong message to USPS and others that electrical hazards and training are important. 
Recently I have found that the USPS does have arc flash labels available in house that are [...]

OSHA cited Whitcraft LLC for 44 alleged serious violations of workplace standards at its Eastford, Conn., aircraft parts manufacturing plant.
OSHA said, “These sizable fines reflect the breadth and gravity of the hazardous conditions identified during our inspection at this workplace, conditions which should not have existed in the first place,”
The “electrical hazards including misused electrical [...]

A Disney vetran, age 50, was electrocuted on a job he had been shocked on before according to the news report.  He had been shocked because of inexperienced workers in the past according to his wife’s news report.
Most of these fatalities are preventable.  Doesn’t look like any equipment failure.  Looked like “deenergized work” that became [...]

One of the things I have pointed out for years but most folks still don’t understand is that shocks (especially high voltage or high amerage shocks) often include an electric arc element.  In the old days, electrical contacts almost always had more burns associated with them than today (Not to minimize shock.  It kills far more [...]