We just started to have an Arc Flash survey done at our facility. I am trying to figure out who in our Dept would be required to wear Category 2/3/4 PPE. Is there an easy to read chart that will help with this determination? I can figure out which employees access the different voltage panels, but not sure which panels fall under the different categories.

Also, we aren't sure if we should have a uniform program or just issue coveralls for those who would need Cat 2/3 PPE. We are buying one Cat 4 suit, as we don't have many instances where we would be working with Cat 4.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

That is the purpose of the study, you will have labels on each panel that will list the PPE required to interact with them. These labels will apply to all employees.




Hard to give advice on that without knowing anything about your facility. Rental programs are nice, a good company will take care of laundering and repairs but be careful, some companies do not follow the laundering instructions and proper repair procedures, do your homework if you decide to do a rental program. If you issue the PPE, your employees need to be trained on proper home laundering, not following the instructions can degrade the FR properties of the FR clothing.

Isn't that the purpose of the arc flash survey?

Yes, it is part of the survey, but I don't have all the information yet from our subcontractor. I am just trying to get a head start on figuring out the PPE we will need. Our budgets run on a fiscal year, so I am hoping to get some money from this years budget to help pay for some of the costs.

No way to know for sure until the study/survey has been completed but many ultimately end up with 8 cal/cm2 (i.e. category 2) PPE as their base / daily wear PPE.

Locations where the study determines the incident energy level is greater than 8 cal will typically have a second category / level of PPE for the higher energy.

You won't have a specific answer until the study is completed but this might give you an idea of where many in the industry end up.

Good luck with the study. Check back here if you have any more questions.