PDF《White Paper》

November

2014 Neutralizing Control Panel Hazards Energizing Employee Safety www.

pentairprotect.com www.panduit.com White Paper Energizing Employee Safety SFAT02--WW-ENG, Rev.0, 11/2014

2 ?2014 Panduit Corp. and Pentair Equipment Protection. All Rights Reserved. Introduction Safety in the workplace is essential in everyday business. As automation and control systems continue to expand and become increasingly complex, the more crucial it is to take the necessary safety precautions. Facility managers, electricians, and control panel engineers have the responsibility to ensure a safe workplace environment to protect employees and businesses from harm. Along with the expanding automation and control systems, the number of electrical accident incidents is also growing, further increasing the need to provide a safe environment. When environmental hazards are ignored, injuries to personnel can expand to unnecessary fines and increased operating costs. Balancing workers'

safety, productivity and equipment optimization requires a disciplined approach that starts with a strong safety infrastructure. This white paper is the fifth in a series of six papers on the topic of Control Panel Optimization. This paper highlights the standards that require compliance updates, the risks associated with arc flash hazards, protection against mechanical hazard, electrical hazard and hazardous location, and explosion situations. It identifies solutions available to help prevent arc flash incidents and optimize worker safety. Additional information can be found in the Environmental Protection of Control Panels C Overview and Standards Compliance white paper. Standards for Personnel Protection Coupled with business mandates to reduce costs, increase efficiency and provide additional capacity with dwindling resources to meet business needs, environmental health and safety professionals face the task of supporting the bottom line by maintaining effective programs that address time-consuming regulatory compliance issues and keep the workforce safe. A report from the State of Washington indicated that from September

2000 - December 2005,

350 workers were hospitalized for serious burn injuries that occurred at work. Thirty (9%) of these injuries were due to arc flash/blast explosions. Total Workers'

Compensation costs associated with these

30 claims exceeded $1.3 million, including reimbursement for almost 1,800 days of lost work time. To protect operators, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 70E standards require a flash protection boundary. OSHA has adopted the NFPA'

s 70E, Standards for Electric Safety in the Workplace? as an acceptable means of compliance to meet this requirement and maintains that electrical work should only take place on de-energized equipment. Access to potentially energized equipment capable of generating an arc flash must be limited to qualified personnel with extensive protective clothing and equipment, including fire-resistant suits and hoods along with non-conductive wands. NFPA 70E provides multiple methods by which the employer can calculate or estimate the hazard or risk. It covers electrical safety issues such as safety-related work practices, maintenance of electrical equipment/installations, and the requirement of special equipment for electrical installation. The Appendix lists arc flash solutions provided by both Panduit and Pentair/Hoffman. The National Electric Code (NEC) is a United States standard for the safe installation of electrical wiring and equipment and is in effect to standardize the enforcement of safe electrical practices. It is part of the National Fire Codes series published by the NFPA and codifies the requirements for safe electrical installations into a single standard source. Even the best-designed safety program will not guarantee that it will be consistently implemented and adopted across all workplaces. Implementation of a safety compliance program requires the support of management and the marshaling of many resources. Without this support, many safety programs often fail due to urgent priorities, inconsistent training of the workforce and delayed implementation. The right project management and training support can help you: ? increase time to compliance ? limit exposure to regulatory fines ? improve workplace safety Energizing Employee Safety SFAT02--WW-ENG, Rev.0, 11/2014