Professional Documents
Culture Documents
INDEX Page
1. Introduction 3
2. Best way to prevent the hazards of electricity 3
3. Need of Electrical Safety Practices and Procedures 3
4. Electrical Hazards 3
5. De-Energization & Re-energization practice 11
6. High Voltage Electrical Safety 11
7. Hierarchy of Risk Control Methods 13
8. The Hierarchy of Health & Safety Controls 15
9. Safe work Practices 16
10. Basic Electrical Safety Rule(s) 17
11. Step and touch potential 19
12. Definitions 20
13. Plant HV and LV Breaker Isolation 22
GENERAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY
1. Introduction
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a nonprofit organization devoted to
eliminating death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the NFPA have written many
standards and regulations that build on one another. In the case of NFPA 70E: Standard for
Electrical Safety in the Workplace®, the OSHA regulations and NFPA standards work so well
together it’s been said that OSHA provides the “shall” while NFPA provides the “how.”
4. Electrical Hazards
• Shock
• Arc Flash & Arc Blast
• Fire Ignition
Electrical
Arc
Molten Metal
35,000 °F
Sound Waves
Copp S
er h
Vapor Hot Air-Rapid
: Expansion
Inte
nse
Electric arcs produce the highest temperatures on earth – up to 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit (4 x
temp of the sun)! The intense heat from arc causes the sudden expansion of air that results in a
blast with very strong air pressure (Lightning is a natural arc).
All known materials are vaporized at this temperature. (Copper expands 67,000 times, Water
1,670 times). Arcs in enclosures, such as a Motor Control Centers (MCC s) or switchgear, magnify
blast and energy transmitted as the blast is forced to the open side of the enclosure.
Arcs spray droplets of molten metal at high-speed pressure. Blast shrapnel can penetrate the
body. Blast pressure waves have thrown workers across rooms and knocked them off ladders.
Pressure on the chest can be higher than 2000 lbs/sq. ft
Clothing can be ignited from several feet away. Clothed areas can be burned more severely than
exposed skin Hearing loss from sound blast. The sound can have a magnitude as high as 140dB
at a distance of 2 feet from the arc.
If you have to work on energized equipment the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has
developed specific approach boundaries designed to protect employees
Flash Protection Boundary (Outer Boundary)
This is the farthest boundary from the energy source. If an arc flash occurred, this boundary is
where an employee would be unaffected.
Limited Approach Boundary
GENERAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY
This is the minimum distance where unqualified personnel may safely stand. No untrained person
can approach an energized item any closer than this boundary. Qualified people must use the
appropriate PPE and be trained to perform the required work to cross the limited approach
boundary.
GENERAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY
Restricted Approach
This boundary can only be crossed by qualified persons. This boundary may not be crossed
without wearing appropriate PPE. Qualified workers must also have a written approved plan for
the work that needs to be performed.
Only qualified personnel wearing appropriate PPE can cross a prohibited approach boundary.
Workers also need specified training to work on energized equipment, a documented plan
justifying the need to perform this work and they must obtain a risk assessment to cross this
boundary. These distances are not consistent between each piece of equipment. Some
equipment will have a bigger flash protection boundary. The length of each boundary is
determined by NFPA 70E and is based on the voltage of the equipment.
Shock Hazard Exposure – These approach boundaries are referring to the electrical shock
hazard and NOT the arc flash hazard. WARNING: The arc flash boundary may be greater
or less than the shock boundary.
Limited Approach Boundary – entered by “Qualified” persons or unqualified persons
escorted by qualified person.
Restricted Approach Boundary – entered only by qualified persons required to use shock
protection techniques and equipment.
Prohibited Approach Boundary – entered only by qualified persons requiring same
protection as if in direct contact with live part.
For a “Qualified Person” to work within the Limited Approach Boundary they must be trained to:
Distinguish exposed energized parts from others
Determine nominal voltage
Determine approach distances
GENERAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY
When an employee is working within the flash-protection boundary, Section 130.7 of the NFPA
70E-2004 standard requires the employee to wear protective clothing wherever there is
possible exposure to an electric arc flash above the threshold incident energy level for a second-
degree burn, 5 J/cm2 (1.2) Cal/cm2. In other words, the protective clothing system is designed
to protect the employee from receiving second or third-degree burns to his or her body. The
typical characteristics, degree of protection, and required minimum arc ratings for typical
protective clothing systems as follow:
Skin
Temperature Duration Damaged Caused
110 F 6.0 hours Cell breakdown begins
158 F 1.0 second Total cell destruction
176 F 0.1 second Curable (second-degree) burn (1.2
cal/cm2)
205 F 0.1 second Incurable (third-degree) burn
GENERAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY
• The qualified person shall activate the equipment operating controls or otherwise verify that
the equipment cannot be restarted.
• Test equipment shall be used to ensure that electrical parts and circuit elements have been
de-energized.
• Testing instruments and equipment shall be visually inspected for external defects or
damage before being used to determine DE energization
• For circuits over 600 volts nominal, the test equipment shall be checked for proper
Re-energization. The following requirements shall be met, in the order given, before circuits or
equipment are reenergized, even temporarily.
• A qualified person shall conduct tests and visual inspections, as necessary, to verify that all
tools, electrical jumpers, shorts, grounds, and other such devices have been removed so that
the circuits and equipment can be safely energized.
• Potentially exposed employees shall be warned to stay clear of circuits and equipment prior
to reenergizing.
• Each lock and tag shall be removed by the employee who applied it. However, if the
• employee is absent from the workplace, then the lock or tag may be removed by a qualified
person designated to perform this task provided that the employer ensures:
That the employee who applied the lock or tag is not available at the workplace, and
That the employee is informed that the lock or tag has been removed before he or
she resumes work at the workplace.
GENERAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY
That there is to be a visual determination that all employees are clear of the circuits
and equipment prior to lock and tag removal.
Work on greater than 600 volts must include the use of permits, knowledgeable qualified
high voltage electrical workers, appropriate tools, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE),
and safety observers.
The operating voltage of equipment and conductors must be determined before
performing any energized electrical work. This should be performed using a high voltage
probe designed for high voltage circuits at the level of voltage to be encountered.
Know the clearance requirements for high voltage equipment, barrier and barricading
requirements;
Understand special hazards associated with high voltage equipment;
Understand special procedures and tools for extracting personnel from energized circuits
and providing rescue and resuscitation, and;
Understand the workspace and guarding specified in the OSHA standard.
In addition, all qualified high voltage engineers/workers should have the skills necessary
to distinguish exposed live parts from other parts of electrical equipment, and to
determine the nominal voltage of exposed live parts. Although the National Electrical
Code (NEC) considers anything over 600 volts to be high voltage, voltages of more than
50 V can cause heart fibrillation if applied across dry unbroken human skin. If the skin is
wet or penetrated by electrodes, voltages as low as 40 or even lower can be lethal.
Voltages above 1,000 V have special clinical characteristics as far as burn wounds,
whereas below that level, cardiac fibrillation is the major risk. Voltages above 1,000 V also
present the risk of wounds leading to amputation.
GENERAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY
A job safety plan must be completed and a job briefing held before starting any job that exposes
employees to electrical hazards.
Job Briefing.
Once the employee in charge has completed the job safety plan, identified the hazards,
associated risks, and the work procedures to be followed the information must be communicated
to the employees who will be performing the various tasks. Each employee must have a clear
understanding of what is expected and the procedures to be followed, any questions or concerns
should be addressed during the briefing.
Change in Scope.
A change in the scope of work can and often will occur after the job briefing is held. Often the
change in scope be the result of conditions discovered as the work is being performed. Any
change in the scope of work that affects employee safety requires additional job planning and a
follow up job briefing to inform the affected employees of the changes. Even what seem to be
minor changes to the scope of work can have adverse consequences.
Incident Investigation.
Electrical incidents include more than just those that make the news because someone was killed
or seriously injured. Electrical incidents include minor shock and arc flash events that could have
GENERAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY
resulted in serious injury, but luckily did not. Relying on luck to avoid injury in the future is a poor
choice. The electrical safety program must include the elements necessary to investigate
electrical incidents. If the cause of the incident can be determined, measures can be taken to
avoid similar incidents in the future that may have a more serious outcome.
GENERAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY
1. Elimination or Substitution
Substitute with less hazardous material
Change process to eliminate noise
Perform task at ground level
Automated material handling
2. Engineering Controls
Ventilation systems
Machine guarding
Electrical enclosures
Current limiting circuit breakers/fuses
Interlocks
3. Warnings
Odor in natural gas
Signs
Barricades
Horns
Labels
4. Training & Procedures
Safe job procedures
Safety equipment inspections
Hazard Communications Training
Lock-out
Confined Space Entry, etc…
5. Personal Protective Equipment
Safety glasses
Ear plugs
Flame Retardant Clothing
Face shields
Safety harnesses and lanyards
Gloves
LEAST EFFECTIVE
GENERAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY
The first step in developing a safe work environment is to have procedures in place which provide
guidelines for employees to perform various tasks safely. The procedure should help eliminate
injuries by providing rules and guidelines for people working on or near energized electrical
circuit conductors.
It should address qualifications, tools, protective equipment, approval levels and attendance
required for various tasks, as well as other additional cautionary information. Also this procedure
should address safe approach distances for qualified and unqualified personnel.
When conductors are or may become energized, alternative ways of ensuring safety from the
electrical hazards are to observe a safe approach distance (or clearance) from exposed
conductors. It is important to know how close persons, or conductive objects which they might
be carrying, can approach without endangering themselves. These clearances are greater for an
unqualified person than for a qualified person.
The OSHA rules only give safe approach distances and clearances to overhead lines. See below
Table. This Table also shows clearances for qualified and unqualified persons working at ground
level and other locations where the conductors are more stationary.
A procedure should also address the requirements for “Electric Utility Safe Practices On or Near
Transformation, Transmission, and Distribution Electrical Conductors” and be compliant with
29CFR 1910.269. The provisions of this procedure apply to installations under the exclusive
control of electric utilities personnel when personnel work on or near the following types of
energized electrical circuit conductors;
• Conductors used for communication or metering of electrical energy.
• Conductors used for the control, transformation, transmission, and distribution of electric
energy.
• Conductors under the exclusive control of the utility, located in buildings or located outdoors,
used exclusively for the purposes of generation, control, transformation, transmission, and
distribution of electric energy.
GENERAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY
Working on or near exposed energized conductors requires extensive planning and higher level
Management approvals. With the exception of testing, working on or near energized circuit parts
will usually not be approved.
The OSHA rules only give safe approach distances and clearances to overhead lines.
Step Potential
During a ground fault, current flows through the grounding system to a ground rod or some type
of system ground (steel structure, guy wire) seeking a return to its source. This current flow could
possibly exist in, or along the surface of the ground for quite some distance around the point
where the earth becomes energized. The current will follow, as nearly as possible, the conductors
supplying the fault current. Step potential is caused by the flow of fault current through the earth.
The closer a person is to the ground rod or grounded device, the greater the concentration of
current and the higher the voltage.
The current flow creates a voltage drop as it flows through the earth's surface and a person
standing with their feet apart bridges a portion of this drop thus creating a parallel path for
current flow as seen in these two illustrations in Figure
The wider apart a person's legs are, the larger the voltage difference across the body. Protection
from the step potential hazard should be to stay in the zone of equipotential while working.
Simply being alert to this hazard is the best defense. For this reason, unqualified personnel
standing on the ground are cautioned to stay clear of structures.
This means that a person standing near the point where fault current enters the earth may have
a large potential difference from foot-to-foot. The potential difference over the same span will
be less and less as the span is moved away from either the fault current entry point or the fault
current return point at the source.
GENERAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY
Touch Potential
Touch potential is a problem similar to step potential – see Figure 4. It involves a fault current
flow in the earth establishing a potential difference between the earth contact point and some
nearby conductive structure or hardware
Protection for step and touch potential is the use of switch operating platforms and ground grids.
The worker must remain upon a local conductive mat as the highest voltage gradient has been
moved to the mat's edges. Sub stations on Site have a ground grid located under the rocks, but
if an individual is located outside this area and while standing on the earth, touches a ground or
a grounded object, a difference in potential may exist during a ground fault.
12. Definitions
Authorized Lockout/Tag out Employee - A person who has completed the required hazardous
energy control training and is authorized to lockout or tag out a specific machine or equipment
to perform service or maintenance. A person must be certified as an Authorized Lockout/Tag out
Employee in order to apply a lock or tag to control hazardous energy.
Confined space - An enclosed space which has limited egress and access, and has an atmospheric
hazard (e.g., explosive atmosphere or
asphyxiating hazard) and/or other serious safety hazards (e.g., electrical hazard).
Damp location - Partially protected locations subject to moderate degrees of moisture, such as
some basements.
De-energized electrical work - Electrical work that is performed on equipment that has been
previously energized and is now free from any
electrical connection to a source of potential difference and from electrical charges.
Disconnecting (or Isolating) switch - A device designed to close and/or open an electric circuit.
Dry location - Locations not normally subject to dampness or wetness, as in the case of a building
under construction.
GENERAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY
Switching devices - Devices designed to close and/or open one or more electric circuits. Included
in this category are circuit breakers, cutouts, disconnecting (or isolating) switches, disconnecting
means, interrupter switches, and oil (filled) cutouts.
Remote-control circuit - Any electric circuit that controls any other circuit through a relay or an
equivalent device.
Service - The conductors and equipment for delivering energy from the electricity supply system
to the wiring system of the premises served.
Service equipment - The necessary equipment, usually consisting of a circuit breaker or switch
and fuses, and their accessories, located near the entrance of supply conductors to the building
and intended to constitute the main control and means of cutoff of the supply.
Tag out - The placement of a tag out device on an energy-isolating device according to procedure
to indicate that the equipment may not be operated until the tag out device is removed.
Voltage (of a circuit) - The greatest root-mean-square (effective) difference of potential between
any two conductors of the circuit concerned.
Voltage, nominal - An approximate value assigned to a circuit or system for the purpose of
conveniently designating its voltage class, e.g., 120/240, 480/277, and 600.
Wet location - Installations subject to saturation with water or other liquids.
Dead: At or about zero voltage and disconnected from all sources of electrical energy.
Earthed: Connected to the general mass of earth in such a manner as will ensure at all times an
immediate discharge of electrical energy without danger.
Permit to work (PTW): A form of declaration signed and given by an authorized person to a
competent person in charge of the work to be carried out on or in close proximity to high voltage
apparatus, making known to him the extend (in time and space) of the work, exactly what
apparatus is dead, is isolated from all live conductors, has been discharged and earthed and,
insofar as electric hazards are concerned, on
which it is safe to work.
Designated person: A senior electrical/mechanical engineer suitably qualified and appointed in
writing by the company to be responsible for compilation and administration of procedures for
high voltage installations/maintenance and operations.
Authorized person (AP): An authorized person is appropriately trained and appointed in writing
the company to be responsible for compilation and administration of procedures for high voltage
installations/maintenance and operations.