Technical Articles - Arc Flash & Electrical Power Training | Brainfiller

NFPA 70E may be an American standard, but its influence extends far beyond the United States. And Australia is a great example. Many people associate NFPA 70E, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace, strictly with the United States. After all, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a U.S.-based organization, and the NFPA 70E Technical Committee, of which I am a member, consists primarily of members from the U.S., along with representation from Canada. However, electrical hazards don’t recognize

Electric Shock: You Walked Away. So You’re Okay? Not necessarily! One of the dangerous assumptions about electric shock is that if someone survives, walks away and appears fine, no serious injury occurred. But what about the injuries that aren’t immediately obvious? Years ago, my son accidentally contacted 120 volts. His muscles locked, and he couldn’t let go. This was headed for a potentially tragic outcome. Fortunately, he remembered enough of Dad’s electrical safety discussions to fight his way free –

A conversation that you do not want to have. John: Have you seen Bill?  Sue: I saw him this morning as he was headed to the work location. John: It’s almost the end of the shift, any word since this morning?Sue: No.  I guess we better go check on him.John: Opening the electrical room door: OMG, BILL, NOOOOO! Safety in electrical work has long emphasized preparation, training, and hazard control—but the next edition of NFPA 70E is expected to take

NFPA 70E Hazard Elimination – Absence of Current NFPA 70E emphasizes hazard elimination as the first priority in the implementation of safety-related work practices. This requirement is normally met by establishing and verifying an electrically safe work condition (ESWC) in accordance with NFPA 70E 120.6. Step seven of this process requires determining the absence of voltage to confirm that a circuit is deenergized and safe to work on.  However, the 2027 edition recognizes absence of voltage may not be enough.  

Question:I have a switchboard with horizontal bus. Should I use the HCB model? Short answer:Not necessarily. Wait! What? Horizontal might not be horizontal? NFPA 70E requires performing an arc flash risk assessment which usually means using IEEE 1584 equations via software to conduct an arc flash study. This requires the selection of what is known as the equipment electrode configuration. One of the most misunderstood configurations is HCB. Let’s clear up a common misunderstanding. HCB stands for Horizontal Conductors in

IEEE 1584 is validated only up to 15 kV, leaving higher-voltage systems outside its empirical model. This article explains what NFPA 70E requires above 15 kV and outlines defensible approaches for high-voltage arc-flash risk assessments.

NFPA 70E arc-flash labels often display distances and incident energy in different units, leading to confusion. This article explains why IEEE 1584 requires metric calculations and how labeling conversions still remain compliant with NFPA 70E.