Arc Flash Risk Assessment In Five Steps

Arc flash risk assessment, also known as an arc flash study, is conducted to determine the risk levels for all areas in which employees may perform energized work. This study saves lives and money by ensuring safe work practices and minimizing the possibility of injuries and lost time accidents. An arc flash study is required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and NFPA 70E. These are the five easy steps to completing your study:

Step 1: Call Electrical Safety Specialists

A quick call is all it takes to get the ball rolling. We will schedule our Certified Electrical Safety Compliance Professionals (CESCP) to travel to your facility anywhere in the United States as quickly as possible to begin your assessment.

Step 2: On-Site Data Collection

An ESS field technician will collect the necessary information to complete the arc flash risk assessment. The data included in our study will begin at the point where your facility takes ownership of the incoming electrical feed from the utility provider. Our team will work downstream through your system to include all points deemed capable of producing an arc per the IEEE 1584 and NFPA 70E standard. 

Step 3: Engineering Analysis

Once the data collection process is complete, we use the data gathered during the first step to build a comprehensive SKM model of your electrical system. Once the model is in place, our engineers will conduct a short circuit analysis, interrupt rating analysis, a coordination study, and an incident energy analysis. After all the analyses are completed, we will use the calculated information to create and print the corresponding arc flash labels.

Step 4: Installation Of Arc Flash Labels

The third step of our arc flash risk assessment includes a return trip to your facility to install arc flash labels and provide four hours of NFPA 70E awareness training. Our installation process is thorough and complete; we will not leave your team with any arc flash labels to apply yourself. We do this to ensure all electrical points are adequately labeled. This also allows our team to complete a quality check on the original data collection.

Step 5:  Delivery Of Report And Single Line Drawings

ESS is the only arc flash provider in the industry that uses step 3 as an opportunity to update your report and single-line drawings per the findings during delivery of arc flash labels. In doing this, our field technician will report any changes/updates back to our engineers upon completion of step 3, allowing the engineer time to update your report and drawings as necessary. If needed, new labels will be created during this phase. Once all reports and drawings are confirmed to be accurate, the report and drawings will be provided to your team.

ESS will perform an arc flash risk assessment and a variety of training and services anywhere in the United States. For more information, call at (816) 925-0443 or click here to request a quote.