Electrical Flash Incident

The incident occurred at Wood River Refinery. This is a good incident to share with personnel that work around high voltage equipment. This incident proves the point that when all other safety precautions fail, PPE is truly the only thing between you and a serious injury or death. There was a significant electrical arc flash incident in one of the substations. Fortunately, there were no injuries and the substation was back in service with 4 days. The following is a preliminary general explanation of the event and most importantly some information with before/after PPE photos to illustrate the value of PPE. Incident Overview: One of the two feeders to the substations had been replaced during turnaround. Both main feeders had been energized but not yet tied together or double-ended. Prior to connecting the new energized

feeder to the substation, phase testing was being performed in order to validate that all three phases on both feeders were aligned in the appropriate position. This is mandated by procedure because closing the tie when the feeders are out of phase would result in a major fault. The phase testing was being conducted inside one of the 4160V main breaker cubicles in the substation. The phase testing procedure being conducted at the time of the incident involved inserting 2 probes from a voltage meter into holes to make contact with energized stabs located up inside the holes. This is old switch gear configured with grounded steel shutters that are opened and closed over the holes and you can see the edge of the open shutters in the second picture. During a phase test these shutters are in the open position to expose the live stabs but the edge of the grounded steel shutter remains very close to the opening where the probe is inserted (also demonstrated in the second picture). It is speculated that the initiating event occurred when the metal edge on one of the voltage meter probes touched the edge of the grounded steel shutter. As the tip of the probe was moved closer to the live 4160V stab, an initiating arc jumped from the live stab to the probe. When the COP employee saw and heard the large arc, he immediately began to egress. As the probe was withdrawn from the hole, the arc followed the tip of the probe causing the arc to grow in length and form conductive gases. It is speculated that the gases eventually migrated to one of the other phases causing a pathway for a phase to phase fault and ultimately an explosion. It is estimated that within a matter of 2 to 3 seconds from the initial arc the gases formed a path for the other phases to join through the ionized air. Testament to PPE: Again, thanks to the PPE, there were no injuries. For reference and comparison, the picture shows a new 65 calorie flash hood similar to the one being used by one COP employee and two contractors during an incident earlier. You can see how the hood looked after being exposed to the arc flash but what you cant see is that the inside of the hood looks like new. A few years ago they upgraded the electrical safe work practices and electrical PPE to state of the art gear. The investigation is nearly concluded and it is learnt that they are working to understand what could be done differently, both short term and long term, to prevent recurrence.

Source: David P. Huffman Maintenance & Reliability Manager Wood River Refinery Office: (618) 255-2522 Cell: (618) 616-9434