“Mumbai: Along with passengers and trespassers an increasing number of railway employees are are also becoming victims of track accidents. Nearly 22 railway men including gangmen and those working on the overhead equipment wires have died in 2009.”

The plumber’s snake was found in the 5kV transformer. No injuries. Basic arc flash training and electrical safety training should be required in all corporate training programs.
Click here to read the news article.

“Kyushu Electric Power Co. said three workers were hospitalized with minor burns and four others were also hurt after sparks flew from electric devices while a regular inspection was being carried out on the No. 1 reactor of the Sendai nuclear plant in southern Japan.”

“Information available at the Data.gov and www.osha.gov Websites includes an establishment’s name, address, industry, associated Total Case Rate (TCR), Days Away, Restricted, Transfer (DART) case rate, and the Days Away From Work (DAFWII) case rate. The data is specific to the establishments that provided OSHA with valid data through the 2008 data collection (collection of CY 2007 data). This database does not contain rates calculated by OSHA for establishments that submitted suspect or unreliable data.”

Click here to read the press release.

Arc flash is an issue even for telecom companies. Here is a probable arc flash in a transformer which injured two and knocked out service. IEEE/NESC 2007 covers this or NFPA 70E can be used for safety.
Click here to read the Bloomberg Story.

Interestingly $55,000 of the fines are electrical. Companies can fix these issues by using NFPA 70E, OSHA standards and other applicable standards and NOT get these fines. Looks like the press release doesn’t say anyone was hurt. Good news.
Click here to read the OSHA press release.

“There was an arc from a 480-volt power line to a metal tool the unidentified man was carrying shortly before 9:30 a.m., railroad spokesman Dan Brucker said. The man did not receive a full 480-volt shock, Brucker said. Brucker called it a “flash.”"

Though the injury was unrelated to many of the fines, OSHA fined this company on several of the new buzz words, “equipment specific lockout/tagout”, “combustible dust”, “electrical hazards.” OSHA is concentrating on what hurts and kills people more and less on paperwork issues. OSHA is continuing to emphasize following NFPA 70E and OSHA electrical [...]

Another example of combustible dust and electrical hazards in the same place. OSHA is really cracking down on the electrical hazard.
Click here to read the OSHA Press Release.