An Overview: Arc Flash Hazard, Analysis and

Mitigation
Bhumika Parihar Shital Pujara Prakash Makhijani
PG student, Asst. Professor, Technical Director,
Dept. of Electrical Engineering Dept. of Electrical Engineering Ohm Encon Pvt Ltd
Svit, Vasad , Gujarat Svit, Vasad, Gujarat Vadodara, Gujarat
pariharbhumika61@gmail.com Smpujara4@yahoo.com Mprakash1972@gmail.com

Abstract: Electricity is the backbone of modern day industry,
but any electrical hazard can be very dangerous in terms of loss
of life and property. Hence, it requires a careful handling.
Electrical hazards can occur mainly due to lack of skill, lack of
awareness and use of unsafe practices by the operating personnel.
Electrical Hazards can be classified as (i) Electric Shock (ii) Fire
due to Short Circuit (SC) and (iii) Arc Flash Hazard. This paper
discusses the causes and effects of Arc Flash Hazards and the
need of analysis and mitigation techniques used. The need of
awareness programs is also envisaged.
Keywords: Arc flash hazard, Personal Protective Equipment
(PPE), Second degree burn, Time Current Characteristics (TCC),
bolted fault current1
Electronics Engineers (IEEE) are such organizations which are
conducting various tests and studies related to it - to
standardize the practices, training program and protective
equipment used by the personnel [2]. The main reason behind
AFH analysis is to carry out the mode of protection for the
personnel working or doing some maintenance work in or
around the switchgear to not get effected by the second degree
burn and also to know the mitigation process of arc flash or its
various effects.
This paper presents an overview of AFH - its causes,
effects and analysis. Brief review on various awareness
programs related to it. And finally, some standards and
mitigation processes are discussed in the end.

I. INTRODUCTION II. EVOLUTION IN KNOWLEDGE OF ARC FLASH

‘Electricity is really just organized lightning’- quoted by
George Carlin. It can beautify many things but when
uncontrolled, leads to dangerous hazards. Energy can neither
be created nor destroyed but it can be transformed from one
form to other and the tremendous energy released from such
hazards can really destroy and effect large area coming under
it, leading to fatal or nonfatal injury or even death of personnel
working in the vicinity.
Generally, all are aware of hazardous effect of electrical
shock, but there is another hazard called as an Arc Flash
Hazard (AFH) caused by an electric arc where contact is not
necessary to incur injury [1]. Hence there is need of some
standard method, practices and protections to prevent such
hazards and/or effects of such hazards. Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA), National Fire Protection
Association (NFPA) and Institutes of Electrical and
1 flash energies [2].
Short circuit between two conductors at different potential at which the
impedance or resistance is zero.
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PHENOMENA
Over last 25-30 years many organization and researchers
are observing and studying various aspects of electrical
hazards especially arc flash and their research and tests lay
down various standard practices which should be strictly
followed for safe environment.
First, the research work on arc flash analysis started in
1981. From that year till now various studies are being carried
out related to safe practices, training methods, about
personnel protective equipment and mitigation methods as
shown in Table I.
The 2002 national electric Code has also adopted the
requirement of AFH labeling. In September of 2002, IEEE-
1584 “IEEE Guide for Performing Arc Flash Hazard
Calculations” was released. Now-a-days this standard is
considered as a basis for AFH analysis, as accepted by NFPA
70E (2003), providing detailed equations for determining arc
 Indian electricity rules 1956 instructed about safety
requirements in electrical work, but yet there is no any
mention about AFH analysis methods.
TABLE 1
EVOLUTION IN KNOWLEDGE OF ARC FLASH PHENOMENA AND
IMPLEMENTATION OF HAZARD MANAGEMENT METHODS [3]
YEAR DEVELOPMENT
1981 Theoretically modeling (Lee)
Studies, R& D and awareness
1981-Present program based on theoretical
models and field experience
Regulatory requirement based on
1990-1993 theoretical modeling (OSHA 1910
Subparts S& R)
NFPA 70E standardized the
training program and work
1995
practices and PPE level based on
theoretical models
R & D in prediction of incident
1995-1998 energy and accordingly evaluation
of PPE level
III. ARC FLASH HAZARD
An arc flash is a flow of uncontrolled current from phase to
ground or phase to phase or phase to phase to ground due to
large potential difference, caused by insulation failure.
As stated in [1], ‘Arc Flash is the radiation burn from the
fierce fire of electric arcs, due to a short circuit that develops
from poor electrical contact or failure of insulation.’
In short, it can be said that the main reason of arc flash is
short circuit, flow of bolted fault current through air, leads to
intense light and heat energy (generally temperature reaches to
35000ºF or 20,000 K )and due to rapid ionization of
surrounding air a cloud of hot plasma is generated. Such
amount of radiant energy (visible, infrared and ultraviolet
light) when generated in closed switchgear, Motor Control
Center (MCC) or other electrical compartments, due rapid heat
conduction and convection and also expansion of metals,
increases the pressure and hence results in a blast [4].
As stated in [5], the pressure from a 100 kA 10 kV arc
reaches up to 2 x 104 N/m2 at a distance of 1 m. This pressure
is about 10 times the value of wind resistance that walls are
normally built to withstand. Such type of arc could readily
destroy a conventional wall at a distance of about 12 m. The
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magnitude of pressure due to hot plasma increases with time
and fault current [6]. Under such pressures there is a risk of
propulsion of droplets of molten metal, flying debris and also
large shock wave can knock the personnel off their feet and/or
against the adjacent wall or equipment.
OSHA has conducted a survey on arc flash taking data
range from April 1984 to June 2007, 23 year period [7]. The
purpose was to see the reason behind arc flash and its effect. It
was reported that generally the arc flash occurs either due to
mishandling of tools (sometimes uninsulated tools), improper
grounding or carelessness during maintenance work (working
at energized part, rack in or racking out of circuit breakers,
misplacement of circuit breaker or fuse) [7] and also
deterioration of insulation.
Such incidents affect the life of personnel and his family
both – Death of the personnel working due to high incident
energy or blast or any part of body burns due fire, memory
loss, damage to eyesight and may hearing loss due to rupturing
of eardrums or second degree burn [1]. Whole life of the
person and his family members gets ruined. Also due such
amount of energy released, there is risk of damage to nearby
equipment and also risky for other persons working in nearby
area.
IV. NEED OF ARC FLASH ANALYSIS
All the causes mentioned are generally due to human error
but the great mistakes we human are doing are to not
providing protective equipment to the personnel. If, according
to the survey conducted by OSHA [9], the personnel who get
affected had used appropriate PPE then they would have
remained safe and unaffected. Also there is need of proper
planning and execution of any electrical work, which needs a
standard training program, improved maintenance and
installation procedures and schedule and maintenance of
operating tools [6].The personnel must have knowledge and
skills to recognize, evaluate and control the hazard.
OSHA motivates all the personnel to strictly follow the
proper safety training methods [9]. To reduce work place
electrical injuries 3 steps to be follow:
1) Awareness – to safe electrical habits
2) Assessment – analyze the safety levels, job planning
(written work plan), understanding actual work practices
and changing according to the situation and self
assessment guidelines
3) Improvement
In all, these methods and practices can be implemented
only after proper analysis of AFH, to know the level of Convert from lg
incident energy.
Ia = 10lg Ia (3)
V. ARC FLASH ANALYSIS
Determine whether AFH analysis is to be done for
Arc flash analysis is the method to determine the amount open air or enclosed box
of incident energy released from an electric arc flash and the
degree of risk personnel may face at that location.
It is measured by thermal energy unit cal/cm2 or J/cm2 and SC analysis to determine the bolted fault current at
3- phase fault location
for AFH analysis it is referred as incident energy of a circuit.
1.2cal/cm2 is taken as second degree burn which is painful but
curable; the amount of energy can be compared to holding
your hand several inches above a disposable lighter [2]. Calculate arc fault current using equation (1) or (2)
As mentioned, for AFH analysis IEEE standard 1584-2002
is taken as reference which states the entire procedure
stepwise and provides required equation for hazard Study of protection schemes of a given system and
assessment. It provides empirical equations, of voltage range determine fault clearing time
from 208 volts to 15kV three phase system, to estimate arc
fault current, incident energy and flash boundary distances [2].
For voltage greater than 15kV, the standard uses theoretical Calculate incident energy using equation (6) or (7)
equations proposed by Ralph H Lee. The standard is prepared
by the representatives of IEEE after performing various tests
for several years and according to their experiences and
observations under the guidance of NFPA. Determine flash protection boundary using (8) or (9)
As shown in Fig.1 the AFH assessment starts with
collection of the data, study of the system and Single Line
Diagram (SLD), and then SC analysis and study of protection Compare the incident energy value with Table II and
schemes of the given system, which is the basic input for provide PPE accordingly
calculation purpose and core for analysis purpose.
SC analysis provides the bolted fault current at each bus Fig. 1 Flow Chart for AFH analysis

and studying the protection scheme gives required TCC of the

II. Incident Energy: An amount of energy impressed on a
applicable overcurrent devices. Using these inputs and
surface at a certain distance from source, generated during
following equations we get the arc fault current, incident
an electrical arc flash.
energy and flash protection boundary to get the idea of PPE
level and labels for a given system [2]: (4)
I. Arcing Current: A fault current flowing through electrical (5)
arc plasma is defined as arcing current or arcing fault
current. (6)
For application under 1000V
For locations where the voltage is above 15kV, equation for
incident energy by lee method is given by-
(1)
(7)
For application 1000V and higher
III. Flash Protection Boundary: An approach limit at a
(2) distance from live part within which a person can get
second degree burn.

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 (8)

For lee method

(9)

Where:
lg log10
Ia arc fault current (kA)
K 0.153 for open configuration and
0.097 for box configuration
Ibf bolted fault current for three phase faults (symmetrical)
(kA)
V system voltage (kV) Fig.2 An operator operating with appropriate PPE [4]
En incident energy (cal/cm2), normalized for time and
distance particular protection depends on the voltage level and the
E incident energy (cal/cm2) incident energy. It is experienced that using PPE, above
K1 - 0.792 for open configuration and requirement level hinder and reduce the efficiency of the
0.555 for box configurations performance and if below the level causes injury to the
K2 0 for ungrounded or high resistance grounded system and personnel, if such hazard occurs in the vicinity, hence
0.113 for grounded systems selection of PPE requires an adequate method.
Cf calculation factor = -1 above 1kV and 1.5 below 1kV
t arcing time or arc duration (seconds) TABLE II PPE RATING IN SIX RISK CATEGORIES [2]
G gap between conductors, (mm) [2]
D working distance from possible arc point to the person Incident Min PPE
(mm) [2] PPE class energy Rating Clothing description
(cal/cm2) (cal/cm)
x distance exponent [2]
DB distance of boundary from arcing point (mm)
0 0-2 N/A Untreated cotton
EB incident energy in cal/cm2 at boundary distance
1 2-5 5 FR Shirt & Pants
By keeping all the factors fixed (except arc duration‘t’), in
FR underwear + FR Shirt &
equation (6) and (7), we can say that incident energy is 2 5-8 8
Pants
proportional to arcing time. Hence to minimize the amount of Cotton underwear+ FR Shirt
incident energy, arc duration can be reduced by changing the 3 8-25 25
& Pants
settings of protective devices. Cotton underwear+ FR Shirt
4 25-40 40
There are various softwares which can be used to make this & Pants coverall
analysis easy and less time consuming like ETAP, SKM Cotton underclothing + FR
5 40-100 100 Shirt & Pants & multilayer
Power Tools, CYME, ArcAD etc. switching suit

VI. PERSONNEL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) NFPA 70E provides various tables related to different PPE
(like gloves or thermal capability of different cloth material)
Personnel Protective Equipment are used to protect the
according to the ratings assuming different criteria. It also
personnel doing electrical work from such hazard. This
specifies PPE based on the task involved.
includes clothing, gloves, helmets, face protection, tools and
Various research and test work has been done in industries
glasses as shown in Fig.2.
for selection of appropriate material to make PPE to maintain
It may be required during load interruption, visual
effectiveness, reliability and protection [3] [4] [9] [10].
inspection and lock out/tag out.
OSHA has also issued guidance for different cloth material
Different types of clothing material are categorized
which encourages the employers or operators to determine
according to its rating as shown in Table II. The selection of
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 whether the particular cloth material is suitable for a particular
situation of arc flash. As stated in [4], cotton fabrics of light
weight and of dark color ignite in very less time, as it requires
more incident energy, as compared to cotton fabrics of light
color and heavy weight or high moisture content fabrics.
VII. AN OVERLOOK ON MITIGATION TECHNIQUES
With the advancement of technologies, we can now
mitigate the AFH or can reduce the energy levels up to some
extent by either changing the switchgear design or changing
the protective device schemes. Various researches are being
done in this area nowadays other than the PPE selections.
It is observed [7] that arc flash in closed switchgear panels
are very dangerous and hence to divert the energy and
pressure the arc resistant type switchgear panels are used [6],
which redirects the energy away from the operator. Many
manufactures design the switchgear and other types of panels
keeping in mind the extent of energy a particular panel may
face in future.
To reduce the energy level various different schemes are
suggested to reduce the arc duration by reducing the fault
clearing time and adjusting the settings of a particular
protective device like bus differential protective relaying, zone
selective interlocking, energy reducing maintenance switch,
current limiting device and optical device relaying [11][12].
There are also ways for reducing arc flash energy during
racking like robot or remote racking device for circuit breaker
as shown in Fig.3.
Fig.3 New LV Motor Control Center with Remote Racking Device
Nowadays arc flash relays are installed which gives alarm
signal when the temperature increases to a certain set level as
shown in Fig.4 [13].
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Fig.4 Arc flash point sensors or fiber optic sensors are placed
in all compartments of a switchgear cabinet[1]
Also fast acting arc flash relay are available which will
sense the possibility of arc flash and trip the circuit breaker in
less than 1ms [14].
VIII. CONCLUSION
According to various studies and surveys it can be
concluded that working in electrical vicinity without
appropriate PPE leads to severe injuries and affects the
surroundings and the selection of PPE is truly depends on the
AFH analysis. Selecting PPE without analysis process is like
taking medicines without asking the doctor. AFH analysis
method helps greatly to identify the worst case scenario in the
system and to take necessary steps to mitigate it or to have
required protection. Analysis results will give the idea of the
options which can be used for designing the system to reduce
the incident energy. It can also provide information on tools
selection, planning and execution of safe work plan. This can
help in minimizing the personnel exposure to the hazard and
in determining the optimal PPE level. Also there is a need of
labeling in various electrical equipment like MCC,
switchboards, switchgears and panels which are likely to
require examinations, maintenance, servicing and adjustments,
when energized. Such labels are helpful for the personnel to
identify the adequate and careful working plan to prevent such
hazard. Awareness and proper planning is the need of an hour
and the standard practices should strictly and seriously
followed by the personnel working, since money, time and not
in list, life has some value.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The Authors thank to Dr. C.D Kotwal for his advice and
encouragement.
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