Hi,
I'm writing an arc flash standard for my company and I am wrestling with the CAT 1 requirement for wearing leather gloves. Because our control voltages for controlling turbines and generators are typically 120 V (AC or DC), all employees working on the equipment would be required to wear leather gloves to perform any troubleshooting work which must be done live. From personal experience this is very difficult due to the small size of the equipment that's being worked on. There could be a risk to the equipment due to the lack of dexterity provided by the gloves. Does anyone have experience or advice on this issue?

Thanks,

W. Casey Harman

Well you need to wear rubber gloves for shock protection, but OSHA 1910.137 says this

(b)(2)(vii) Protector gloves shall be worn over insulating gloves, except as follows:

(b)(2)(vii)(A) Protector gloves need not be used with Class 0 gloves, under limited-use
conditions, where small equipment and parts manipulation necessitate unusually
high finger dexterity.

Are you actually handling energized conductors, or is there some sort of insulation over the conductor?

One thing I have found with the whole "Arc Flash" issue is now wearing Class 0 Rubber gloves with Leather Protectors... Personally I find them too warm, and I notice my hands are sweating alot more than before with just leather gloves.. Not to mention the reduced dexterity.. It is almost getting to be more of a hazzard that just leathers or even (heaven forbid) barehands..

Before the flood gates open, I am not dumb enough to use bare hands in close proximity to a live bus... But connecting wires to de-energized breakers in a panel the gloves have caused me to have to "relearn" my sense of touch with the gloves on...

?? Are you asking about bare wires or insulated conductors (RW90, TEW, THHN, etc)?

Yes, that's what I meant. If they are handling bare energized conductors, I would think that class zero's are manditory. If they are insulated, then the leathers only sounds like a company policy.