February 7, 2013 Leave a comment
If you are a manager at any level of a manufacturing facility, I hope you are aware of the dangers of arc flash. For those who are not aware, “an arc flash, also called arc blast or arc fault is a type of electrical explosion that results from a low-impedance connection to ground or another voltage phase in an electrical system.” Typically this does not occur in 120V situations, but can occur in 480V+ installations if proper precautions are not taken. Employees can be severely injured or even killed when an accident occurs while working with these kinds of electrical systems. There are many standards like OSHA, IEEE and NFPA that regulate these types of situations to provide a safe working environment for the employee. In addition to those standards, I would propose two simple changes to controls architecture and design to help limit the exposure to working inside an electrical cabinet.