We have a 4000 amp 480 switch gear at our service and we lose power from utiliy from time to time. my question is can a quilified person reset or test a breaker and a bu generator without ppe? In the plant we have a hrc of 2* i am not sure about the switchgear rooms hrc. i would think it might be higher , we don,t rack cb in switchgear. but we do replace buckets and i don,t believe it is a hrc 2*

PPE pertains primarily to energized work. If your qualified worker is exposed to energized parts within the Arc Flash Boundary, as determined from an arc flash study, he needs to be suited up in a PPE level equal to or greater than the incident energy level of the equipment. Using NFPA table 130.7(C)(9), operating (resetting) a circuit breaker with the covers on requires PPE level 0. Voltage testing requires 2*.

As long as the maximum available fault current is 35 kA and the maximum fault-clearing time is 0,5 s. Outside those ranges, you need to calculate the IE.

The live parts do not need to be exposed for arc flash PPE to be required.



I would not recommend using the tables for the OP here, with 4000A switchgear I highly doubt they are able to use the tables.

Thanks to everyone for the responses. I spoke to the safety guy about the size of our service 480, 4000 amp, that it might be out side the limits for using the tables for hrc uses, they set our electric safety plan according to the tables in 70e book and want us to follow it. Thats good but told them in the long term it might be a problem. Since it came down from his boss Idon,t see much changing. I don't know much of the rules for the limits to relate them to the safety people to understand.

Great info from you guys, thanks again.