What a little less Sizzle at Work

Well than teach your employees

electrical safety practices

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 ELECTRICAL SAFETY HAZARDS
Arc-Flash and Shock Hazard

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 Questions
• Do you have workers install power cables on energized panels? (example:
running new circuit for server rack?)
• Do you have work/modifications performed on energized electrical
systems? (example: upgrading power, UPS, generator systems?)
• Do you commission live electrical systems (example: UPS, batteries,
generators, PDU’s)
• Do your UPS vendors service equipment while energized?
• Do your employees have unrestricted access to areas where energized
electrical equipment is open or being worked on?
• Is you data center designed to allow electrical equipment to be de-
energized without shutting down the IT loads?
• Do you understand the potential risks, hazards and liabilities associated
with these questions?

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 Observations
• Compliance with existing safety laws may
require you to change how you manage,
operate and design your data center
• Data centers require large amounts of
power and this increases safety risks
• Data centers do not like to shut down and
this increases electrical safety risks
• Many people choose to ignore, deny or
dismiss their responsibilities when it
comes to electrical safety and this
increases risks and liabilities

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 Electrical Facts

• Electricity will take path of any resistance –including you!!

• Electric current will always return to the source (utility
transformer or separately derived source)
• Electricity flows in complete paths, if you complete the path you
will get shocked!
• The earth is a ground fault current path!

 The earth can conduct enough electrical current to

electrocute a person
 The earth shall not be considered as an effective ground-
fault path. (An earth ground could or could not cause
overcurrent devices to open)

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 Electricity Risk Areas

• Electrical Shock Hazards

– Existing standards and practices address many of
these risks

• Arc Flash/Burn Hazards

– Existing Standards and practices address some
these risks

• Arc Blast Hazards

– Existing standards and practices address very few
of these risks

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 Risk issues

• Both employer and employee risks

• Injury or death to personnel
• Rehab / disabilities
• Lost / damaged equipment
• Unplanned outages and repairs
• Increased insurance and worker
compensation costs
• Expensive lawsuits

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 Shock Hazards

Most personnel are aware that there is a danger

of electrical shock, even electrocution. It’s the
one electrical hazard around which most
electrical safety standards have been built.
However, few people really understand just how
little current is required to cause injury, even
death. Actually, the current drawn by a 7.5W,
120V lamp, passing across the chest, from hand-
to-hand or hand-to-foot, is enough to cause
death by electrocution.

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 Shock Hazards
The human body will conduct electrical current! A circuit
path can be through both arms, through an arm or leg to
ground, or through any body surface to ground. There is a
certain current level at which an individual cannot
voluntarily release from the circuit. This is the "no let go
current" from which burns and death by electrocution can
result.
When the current increases to about 0.015 to 0.020 amperes,
it becomes impossible to let go of the circuit. At higher
values of current, e.g. above about 0.100 amperes,
ventricular fibrillation and/or heart stoppage will cause
certain death.

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 Arc-Flash Hazards
• Arc-Flash is an unexpected sudden release of heat
and light energy produced by electricity traveling
through air.
• This explosive condition includes a broad spectrum
of electromagnetic energy, plasma, fragments and
a spray of molten materials.
• Temperatures at the arc terminals can exceed
35,000 deg F, (4 times hotter than the surface of
the sun)
• Air and gases surrounding the arc are instantly
heated and the conductors are vaporized causing a
pressure wave called an Arc Blast.

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 Arc-Flash Hazards

• Burns from direct heat exposure or

clothing ignition. At distances of more
than 10 feet, arc flash is capable of causing
serious burns requiring skin grafts.
• Loss of eyesight from UV light emitted by
vaporized metal
• Death
• Equipment damage/outages
• Fire

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 Burn Hazard
• First-degree burns are limited to the top layer of skin:
– Signs and symptoms: These burns produce redness, pain,
and minor swelling. The skin is dry without blisters.
– Healing time: Healing time is about 3 to 6 days; the
superficial skin layer over the burn may peel off in 1 or 2
days.

• Second-degree burns are more serious and involve the

skin layers beneath the top layer:
– Signs and symptoms: These burns produce blisters, severe
pain, and redness. The blisters sometimes break open and
the area is wet looking with a bright pink to cherry red color.
– Healing time: Healing time varies depending on the severity
of the burn
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 Burn Hazard
• Third-degree burns are the most serious type of burn and involve
all the layers of the skin and underlying tissue:
– Signs and symptoms: The surface appears dry and can look waxy
white, leathery, brown, or charred. There may be little or no pain or
the area may feel numb at first because of nerve damage.
– Healing time: Healing time depends on the severity of the burn.
Deep second- and third-degree burns (called full-thickness burns)
will likely need to be treated with skin grafts, in which healthy skin is
taken from another part of the body and surgically placed over the
burn wound to help the area heal.

• Internal burns – muscle, organs, veins,

– Could continue to burn after shock event due to internal heating

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 Photos

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 Arc-Flash Metrics

• The amount of instantaneous heat energy

released by an Arc-Flash is called incident
energy.
• Expressed in calories per square
centimeter (cal/cm²)
• Five Hazard Risk categories
(HRC 0 to 4)
• Calculations are based on working
distance of 18” from arc terminals

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 Arc-Blast Hazards

• High energy arc-flash heats and expands air

• Vaporized copper expands 67,000 times its
mass when it changes from solid to vapor
• Blast pressure can exceed 2000 pounds per
square foot.
• Blast speed can exceed 700 MPH
• Injuries from falls or collision with equipment.
An arc fault of 50 kA can accelerate a nearby
worker at speeds of up to 110 mph.

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 Arc Blast Hazards

• Hearing damage or total hearing loss from

ruptured eardrums. The sound of a blast
can exceed 160 dB. (Sounds above 140 dB
cause hearing loss even with protective
equipment.)
• Lung collapse or scarring from the shock
wave and inhalation of vaporized metal
• Memory loss and other neurological
damage from concussion
• Injuries from flying shrapnel
• Death
• Equipment damage

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 Electrical Safety Compliance
Scheduled maintenance, testing and
replacement per manufacture and
industry best practices

NFPA 70B
NFPA 70
Electrical Equipment
National Electrical Code
Maintenance Installation codes, safe
products, safe installation,
OH &S inspections and enforcement
Law, rules,
regulation

NFPA 70E
Electrical Workplace Safety
Policies, procedures, training, risk analysis, P bar Y Safety
qualified workers, PPE Consultants
Alberta
Canada
 Four Protection Boundaries
Flash Protection Boundary (FPB)
Safe approach distance from energized parts <1.2 cal/cm²
Three shock approach boundaries
1. Limited Approach Boundary
Unqualified persons must be accompanied by a
qualified person and use PPE
2. Restricted Approach Boundary
Only qualified persons are allowed in this area
and must use PPE
3. Prohibited Approach Boundary
Work in this area considered the same as
making direct contact with energized parts.
Only qualified persons are allowed in this
area and must use PPE

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 PPE
• Personal Protective Equipment
• Provides shock and arc flash burn protection
• Suits are rated in cal/cm²
• Electrically rated shoes, gloves
• Resistant to flame and
self-extinguishing
• Thermal insulation from
heat radiation
• Over 40 cal = arc flash/blast
that you cannot be protected
from, you could be killed!

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 Qualified Individuals

• Qualified workers must be

knowledgeable on the equipment and
the hazards that exist and receive
documented training.

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 Employee Training

• An essential element in an effective electrical safety program is

training. From both a legal and effective point of view, training
records are important. Training should be based on the
program and procedures in place within an organization. The
training should focus first on increasing knowledge and
understanding of electrical hazards and second on how to avoid
exposure to these hazards. As a person completes a specific
segment of training, a record should be established and
maintained. An electrical safety program should accomplish the
following objectives: Make personnel aware of the rules,
responsibilities and procedures for working safely in an
electrical environment;

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 Documentation

• Demonstrate the employer’s intention to fully comply with

federal law;
• Document general requirements and guidelines to provide
workplace facilities free from unauthorized exposure to
electrical hazards;
• Document general requirements and guidelines to direct the
activities of personnel, who could be either deliberately, or
accidentally, exposed to electrical hazards;
• Encourage, and make it easier for each employee to be
responsible for his or her own electrical safety self-discipline.

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 Summary
• Employers/owners have requirements
including providing appropriate PPE
• Employees have requirements
• Contractors have requirements
• Cannot transfer liabilities and responsibilities
• Get trained!
• Perform Electrical Hazard Analysis
• Use appropriate PPE
• Keep unqualified persons out of hazard areas

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