This week's question is pretty simple. Arc Flash Forum members and guests come from a wide range of backgrounds so with that in mind, here is this week's question.

Does your job function ever require that you need to wear arc rated clothing/PPE?

-Yes
-No

Would it be appropriate, knowing the complaints about comfort, etc., to require PPE and then not wear it yourself? Can someone not qualified train someone else to be qualified? I can see some times where this makes sense (mostly higher voltage levels and lineman jobs), but arc flash PPE? I cannot in good conscience ask an electrician to wear it if I won't.

Paul, Thanks for the idea for next week's question! Good one.

I agree with Paul. I only wear it 1-2 times a year but when we are testing or investigating and the situation requires it, my suit get used.
We are lucky in that most of our equipment can be shut down and operations will give us some downtime.

I wear 8 cal/cm^2 shirts and pants to work every day. I don't necessarily do work requiring arc flash PPE all the time, but I spend enough time opening doors and getting information that I do need it. As with the others, it is partly for show, when I tell electricians they need to wear their PPE, they can see that I have the PPE myself.

We manufacture arc flash clothing and I personally wear something every day. In fact I have been doing a wear test on our American denim for the past two years so I wear one of three pairs almost daily and log them. http://www.benchmarkfr.com/flame-resistant-clothing/pants/american-denim/2810FR

We give our employees the option to wear anything which is rejected during production or on liquidation to gather feedback. On Wednesdays we encourage them to wearing at least one piece of our arc rated PPE, despite not having an arc flash or flash fire threat to protect against. It has been a Benchmark policy for about five years and it has been quite helpful with regards to feedback on fit. Interestingly during the holiday season almost everyone wears a red coverall what has been creatively personalized!

At the utility level I have been impressed by management who wears the same PPE as their crew. I see how it helps them make better informed decisions.

"Can someone not qualified train someone else to be qualified?"

Yes, or no one could ever be or have been qualified.

Its a chicken and egg question.

"I cannot in good conscience ask an electrician to wear it if I won't."

And that I agree with, and it shouldn't be just cat 1 or Cat 2 equipment either.

I have lost track of the the numbe rof times that it has been stated, or implied that safety equipment is easy to work in / work with.
But only by those who don't and never have.

I don't think anyone thinks that a 40 cal/cm^2 blast suit is easy to work in. Honestly I should never be wearing one of those, because if a job requires its use, it should be one of the electricians doing the job, not the engineer.

I would love to put on the 40cal blast suit on a sunny day and perform a few ‘simple’ tasks to see how quickly the heat starts to affects me! I also wonder how hard it is to move, see and hear in those things. Unfortunately we do not have 40 cal suits laying around here at my company. I think the people who design the electrical installations need to be aware of how it is to work with various PPE’s that might be required. Maybe then they feel compassion for the workforce and push for the more expensive option that results in the energy dropping under 25 cal/cm2.

Hi All

Totally agree with all of the comments

Myself, I wear a daily wear whenever I am conducting a training session- generally an 8.5 cal/ cm2 shirt and 10 cal/cm2 pants. I find that the participants have more respect for you when they see you wearing the same garments as you would expect them to wear. I do not think I have ever been in a situation where someone has not complained about the comfort factor of the clothing whether it be daily wear or an arc flash suit

I do think however that we need to extend this conversation to not only the clothing but the PPE as well. For example the face shield, balaclava and insulated rubber gloves. I have no problem in saying openly that I would no expect a crane mechanic to be wearing the such in a poorly lit plant while standing on a crane bridge in plus 90 degree temperatures when I would likely not do it myself. I mention to HVAC technicians who have embraced CSA Z462 like a cold shower "will you at least wear rubber insulated gloves with Leather protectors to provide you with some shock protection while working on a rooftop unit in extreme temperatures"?

All good points being raised about levels and necessity for using AFRated PPE. More to the underlying issue; even if the company has "no energized work" allowed and" we always shut things down", the elephant in the room is........you must still dress out to the level of hazard calculated based on the energy and task, plus risk factors even to shut the equipment down.

REMEMBER IS IS NOT DE-ENERGIZED TILL TESTED AND IF NECESSARY GROUNDED AND THOSE WORK PRACTICES ARE ENERGIZED TILL COMPLETED AND VERIFIED.

I always error on the safe side and so far my errors have not killed me. Other professions deal with PPE, comfort, who pays, when to use or replace, why is electrical different.
New medical data suggest repeated electrical shock changes our brains, where do I get a reverse boost>.LOL