Be extremelly carefull when racking in and racking out of

circuit breaker
http://electrical- engineering- portal.com/be- extremelly- carefull- when- racking- in- and- racking- out- of- circuit- breakerJanuary 22, 2013

Arc flash incident, bad racking?

There are many reasons causes arc flash incidents. Some of arc f lash explosions occur
when substation personnel insert or remove (rack in or out) circuit breakers f rom low or
high voltage switchgear cubicles. Manual racking in and racking out circuit breakers poses
potentially lethal arc f lash exposure.

Assumptions and complacency are two of electrical safety‘s worst enemies. If the
f ollowing story hits uncomf ortably close to home f or you, it will have served its purpose.

In January 1993, two employees were killed and three were seriously injured by an
electrical arc f lash at a Texas power station.

The dead employee (not conf irmed) had racked-in a circuit breaker and sent the close
command, but the breaker f ailed to close. With the breaker indicator showing that it was
still open, the operator began racking-out the breaker to troubleshoot the problem with
his supervisor looking on. Neither knew that the breaker had received the close
command. The breaker had unlatched and begun to close, but the mechanical problem
prevented it f rom completing the operation.

As a consequence, the operator attempted to rack out the circuit breaker even as it was
receiving a close command. When he was f inally able to move the breaker, the
mechanical bind was relieved and the breaker closed while it was partially racked-out.
The result was an electrical arc f lash and explosion that critically burned the operator and
the supervisor and slammed them into the wall. Both were killed.

The arc f lash then travelled around a corner and burned three other workers. All of this
carnage occurred within milliseconds.

Download PDF guides on arch flash protection and assesment (from cablejoints.co.uk):

Arc Flash Risk Asssessment – DuPont Arc Guide

Arc Flash Protection – LV – HV Switching Suits f or Racking In & Out
CATU Electrical Saf ety Equipment f or Low & High Voltages

Ben Johnson and Jack Wells – Steering Committee Cochairs – IEEE/NFPA Collaboration
on Arc Flash Occurence, Feb 2007