8/12/2021 Arc Flash Standards - Vrielink Electrical Services

Arc Flash Standards

Regulation for electrical safe working in both US (NFPA 70E) and Europe (EN 50110)
require a risk
assessment for electrical hazards including arc flash. Although the
latter seems very general compared to the
more detailed and specific requirements
of its US counterpart, the possible methods for assessing and
controlling arc flash
risk are similar for both.

An overview of the main standards and how they relate to arc flash risk:

IEEE 1584 (/en/standards-ieee-1584)

IEEE 1584 Guide for Performing Arc-Flash Hazard Calculations provides a method for
calculating arc flash
hazard for electrical distribution systems.

NFPA 70E (/en/standards-nfpa-70e)

NFPA 70E: Standard for Electrical Safety In the Workplace is a standard intended for
use by employers and
employees to comply with OSHA requirements for electrical safety.

EN 50110 (/en/standards-en-50110)
EN 50110 Operation of Electrical Installations is a European Standard that sets
requirements for the safe
operation of and work performed on electrical installations
in CENELEC countries.

BGI/GUV-I 5188 E
BGI/GUV-I 5188 EThermal Hazards from Electric Fault Arc is a document provides guidance
on how to select
class 1 or 2 arc flash PPE tested with the box method.

This document provides guidance on how to select PPE that has been tested against
IEC 61482-1-2, also
known as the box method. This method does not result in a withstand
value in cal/cm², but instead classifies
PPE as class 1 or 2. A direct conversion between
these classes and an ATPV in cal/cm² is not possible.

The guide gives a basic calculation method for determining if class 1

or 2 protection is required. The
calculation is based on electrical
system properties including the fault clearing time, but arcing currents
are
taken as simply half the short-circuit current. From tests performed
for IEEE 1584 we know that the arcing
current can be much lower than half
the short-circuit current. This can lead to severely underestimating fault
clearing time and arc flash incident energy. It is strongly discouraged
to use this method for calculating arc
flash hazards.

Other Standards
ASTM F1506, F1449, F2757: Performance requirements and guides for care of arc rated
textile materials.

ASTM F2178: Test method for determining arc rating of eye or face protective products.

ASTM F1891: Standard specification for arc and flame resistant rainwear.

EN 61482-1-1: Test method for arc rating of protective clothing. This test is similar
to ASTM F1506 and results
in an ATPV – a value in cal/cm² that can be used with
IEEE 1584 (/en/standards-ieee-1584)
hazard study
results.

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EN 61482-1-2: Alternative test method called the box test that assigns class 1 or 2 to
protective clothing.
BGI/GUV-I 5188 E gives guidance on selecting protective clothing with this designation.

Previous: Line, Bus and Load Side (/en/arc-flash-bus-line-side)

Next: IEEE 1584 (/en/standards-ieee-1584)

About Arc Flash

Arc Flash (/en/arc-flash)

Incident Energy (/en/arc-flash-incident-energy)

Arc Flash Boundary (/en/arc-flash-boundary)
Line, Bus and Load Side (/en/arc-flash-bus-line-side)

Standards (/en/standards)

IEEE 1584 (/en/standards-ieee-1584)

NFPA 70E (/en/standards-nfpa-70e)
EN 50110 (/en/standards-en-50110)

Risk Assessment (/en/risk-assessment)

Sample Arc Flash Study Report (/en/sample-study)

Risk Control (/en/risk-control)

Electrical Safety Program (/en/electrical-safety-program)

(/en/arc-flash-studies)

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