The Three A’s of Arc Flash

Gary H. Fox, PE
Senior Specification Engineer

suffered from arc flash injury. Furthermore, the statistics

In 2007 GE conducted a survey of industry professionals
indicated that the rate of all electrical injuries requiring
working in facilities related to the oil and gas industry, pulp
hospitalization was an average of about 13 cases per day.
and paper industry, and power generation. We asked
questions that identified: An arc flash can be started by several causes. Some of
these, like accidental contact and dropping tools are
• Whether or not they knew the current hazard risk avoided by just not opening up energized equipment. Arcs
categories in their facilities can initiate from tracking across insulators, most commonly
• Whether or not they had conducted a hazard risk seen in high voltage equipment and caused by surface
analysis in their facility contamination on the insulators. Corrosion can increase
the resistance of connections and cause extreme heating
• What actions, if any they had taken as a result of or lead to mechanical failure. Unsafe work practices is one
the hazard risk analysis of the more significant causes because they are avoidable.
• What were the most important benefits they would Many times this is caused by just trying to do things too
expect from reducing the hazard risk category of quickly or without thinking things through; “cutting corners”;
equipment or not following proper lock-out/tag-out procedures.

• Identify the solutions currently in place to reduce Arc flash injury is best avoided by not working on energized
the risk of arc flash injury. electrical equipment. Sometimes this is not possible. In
those cases the work must be performed by trained
The study results revealed what we called the problematic qualified workers and following the completion of a hazard
three A’s of arc flash. Before we get into the study and it’s risk analysis.
results, let’s review the basics about arc flash.
A hazard risk analysis will help identify the appropriate
In very simple terms, an arc flash is an extremely violent personal protective clothing or PPE for the task. The
event. An arc occurs when the electric current uses a path required quality of the selected PPE depends on the
through air rather than through conductive material. Where estimated amount of heat released by an arc flash. This
there is no firm connection between shorted conductors thermal energy is dependent on a number of factors but
there is usually an arc. Arc flash is a separate hazard from the three most significant are.
electric shock, which you must also guard against when
performing work associated with live equipment. The arc • How much current is in the arc
releases energy in the form of thermal energy and also • The time to clear the fault and totally stop the
mechanical energy. There are two basic characteristics that current
drive this energy release.
• The distance from the person to the arc
• The arc is hotter than the temperature at the sun’s
surface The PPE does not guarantee you will walk away unscathed
from an arc flash. It merely makes the incident survivable
• When solid copper is vaporized, its volume by limiting injuries to second degree burns. Permissible
expands 67,000 times…and that can create an forms of PPE vary from common cotton clothing to highly
immense pressure wave insulated heavy clothing combined with hoods and face
While these are the two biggest effects, there are many shields. Note that polyester and other similar synthetic
more caustic byproducts of an arc flash. These include fiber clothing is not allowed.
deafening sound, blinding light, toxic gases, molten metal, When the arc energy exceeds Category 4 capabilities the
and pieces of metal or other material explosively thrown blast effect injuries are of more concern than the burns
off. Nothing about an arc flash is pleasant. caused by thermal effects. There are no PPE designed to
According to statistics published by NFPA and IEEE, the arc withstand the blast effects of an arc flash. That’s why there
flash injury rate during the years 1992 through 2002 was is no category beyond class 4.
about 2,000 per year. At this rate about five people per day
The flash protection boundary is another important should especially take notice of the data for sites that
concept. This is the minimum distance from exposed live reported that they were “above category 4”. Remember
parts where the heat released from an arc flash would that there is no PPE that can protect against the blast
cause a second degree burn on unprotected skin. Besides effects associated with energy levels greater than HRC 4.
the flash protection boundary are other limits and This data seems to indicate that having a locations that
clearances related to avoiding electric shock that need to exceed HRC-4 is just about a likely as any other category
be observed. except for category 1 which doesn’t appear to be all that
common. So it is just as likely to have a location where the
There are two equations available for establishing the flash
incident energy exceeds the capabilities of any PPE as it is
protection boundary. One in NFPA 70E and the other in
to have a location where there is PPE available to protect
IEEE 1584. In the case of a 100A lighting panel with
the worker. This shows what a dangerous misconception it
10,000A short circuit available, the flash protection
would be to think that using HRC-4 PPE will protect the
boundary determined from these equations could be six to
worker where the hazard risk category is not known. This
twelve inches from the live parts. In 4000A low voltage
data shows that such an assumption could result in deadly
switchgear with 42,000A available, the flash protection
consequences on an average of about one in four cases.
boundary may be on the order of 49 to 166 inches. These
figures are provided to provide the reader with an idea of With regards to questions asked about performing arc flash
the distances that might be expected and to show the studies, the results showed an almost even split between
dissimilarity in results obtained from the two equations. Do facilities where studies were performed versus those that
not assume these figures apply to any given situation. have not. This suggests that the level of awareness is not
where it should be.
Now that we have laid the groundwork of a basic
knowledge of arc flash, let’s look at the survey results in Of those facilities where arc flash studies were performed,
detail. As we mentioned before, the results identified the some owners adopted multiple changes as a result of the
“three A’s of arc flash”: arc flash study. Most of them purchased new equipment or
controls or other devices to make the facility safer. In many
• Awareness - 36% of end users and 38% of
cases overcurrent device ratings or settings were changed
specifiers did not know the HRC of their facility or
to reduce the arc flash energy. Usually, this was possible
their electrical system design.
without sacrificing the selective operation of the devices,
• Analysis - 50% of end users said no arc flash which would reduce overall system reliability and uptime.
hazard study had been performed in their facility. Unfortunately more than one third of respondents indicated
• Action - 35% end users said no changes were that no action was taken following the arc flash analysis.
made Those who felt that no action was possible accounted for
despite conducting analysis only 12% of those who conducted arc flash studies, which
suggests that some improvement may be possible in most
For those who did know the HRC in their facility, the survey cases where a study is being done for the first time.
asked them to identify what HRC levels were present.
Those results are illustrated in the following graph (Figure Reducing the hazard risk category can result in several
1). Note that for those that knew the category, the results advantages. These include
were evenly split among categories 2 and higher. You • Lower insurance costs
Figure 1: Responses to “What level of HRC do you • Lower workers compensation costs
currently have in your electrical system today?”
• Lower maintenance labor costs
Level of Hazard Risk Category 36.0%
• Reducing the PPE needs of the workforce
(HRC)
Reducing the PPE needs goes beyond just the cost involved
17.3% in obtaining and caring for category 4 protective
13.3% 14.7% 13.3% equipment. The insulation and materials required to
withstand the intense heat of the arc at the highest
5.3% category results in protective clothing that is heavy,
cumbersome and hot. The protective gloves reduce
dexterity and make handling tools more difficult which
> HRC 4 HRC 4 HRC 3 HRC 2 HRC 1 Don't could increase the risk of a dropped tool. The clothing
Know keeps body heat in and can cause the worker to be
uncomfortable or unable to work for long periods. Face
shields can obscure vision. So it’s not surprising that maintained or is so old that it is reaching the end of its
lowering the PPE requirements for a task is the most useful life.
popular benefit of reducing the hazard risk level.
The ability to remotely open and close circuit breakers
There are many options available on electrical distribution makes this task safer by moving the breaker controls to
equipment that will make working around the gear safer outside the flash protection boundary and away from the
and possibly result in being able to use a lower category thermal and blast effects of arcs. Remote operation is
PPE. These include not only options that are available when possible in existing equipment where the breaker is already
you order new equipment but also options that can be electrically operated. Electrically operated breakers are
added to existing equipment. standard in medium voltage switchgear and is optional in
low voltage switchgear and switchboards. In low voltage
Racking drawout breakers in and out is one of those
equipment, it may be possible to convert a manually
activities that carries some increased risk to failure when
operated circuit breaker to electrical operation. This needs
care is not exercised. Consider how easy it is to leave a tool
to be reviewed on a case by case basis.
across the stabs of a circuit breaker and rack the breaker
onto an energized bus without removing the tool first. Remote operation can be carried out through a number of
Remote racking devices are available that allow the worker methods today. If the breaker open and close coils can be
to stand outside the flash protection boundary while wired to an input/output device that is connected to some
racking the circuit breaker in or out. The motor operator form of broadband network or programmable logic
attaches to the front of the breaker and engages the controller, the circuit breakers could be operated via a
racking mechanism drive shaft. The worker uses a push touchscreen panel or from a remote computer via a
button control at the end of a long control cable to operate supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system.
the racking motor. The control cable allows the worker to At the simplest level, the circuit breaker open/close coils
stand outside the flash protection boundary, including well could be direct wired to control switches or pushbuttons
to the side of the breaker being racked out, which would that are mounted on a panel outside the flash protection
keep him out of the path of thermal and blast effects. boundary.
These operators are available on both low voltage
Infrared scanning ports allow thermographic evaluation of
switchgear and medium voltage (5kV and 15kV) switchgear.
connections without opening covers. When connections
Opening and closing circuit breakers may also involve some loosen up the resistance of the connection increases. The
risk and is an task that is commonly performed manually. result is that the temperature of a loose connection is much
Let’s say that tool we mentioned previously was left on the hotter than adjacent connections or conductors. If the
load stabs of the breaker. So nothing would happen while connection overheats, a dangerous failure could result.
the breaker is being racked in, but a dead short could exist Thermographic scanning allows you to spot loose
across the phases upon closing that breaker. Or you may connections while the equipment is operating under load.
be trying to open a breaker that has not been properly The thermographic cameras cannot detect the heat very
well through metal covers, so this task is usually done by
Figure 2: Using a remote racking device on Wavepro opening
Figure the covers
3: An to expose
example of an the connections
Entellisys that need to
switchgear
low voltage power circuit breakers in AKD-10 betouchscreen
scanned, creating both
used for an arccircuit
remote flash hazard
breakerand a
operation.
switchgear. possible shock hazard, especially in high voltage
equipment. Using infrared scanning ports allows the
workers to perform scanning while keeping the covers
secure and bolted in place which reduces the arc flash risk,
eliminates the shock hazard, and allows a lower rated PPE
for the task. On medium voltage equipment, the viewing
port also allows you to get the camera closer to the live
parts and record the details better. With the covers in place
you no longer have to maintain the clearances required by
safety standards to avoid shock when the high voltage
parts are exposed.
Much of the foregoing material can be implemented on
equipment already installed in your facility. In addition to
this, the following equipment options and system design
concepts should be considered when specifying new
equipment about to be purchased.
There are two options for low voltage equipment that will area is much safer to work around with the covers open.
provide better protection to live parts in cable This option also drastically reduces the probability that a
compartments of rear access equipment such as low bus fault can happen.
voltage switchgear. These are section barriers and
What about simply keeping people out of places where they
insulated/isolated bus. It should be realized that the
don’t belong? The following options follow this strategy.
standards for low voltage switchgear allow the rear area
behind the circuit breaker cubicles to be wide open from Just the act of opening or closing equipment doors on live
one end to the other inside the enclosure. Furthermore the equipment can trigger an arc flash. Padlock devices can be
standards allow bare main bus to be applied, posing an used for securing the hinged door that covers a circuit
obvious shock hazard to those that need to open the cable breaker. Padlocking doors can prevent injuries caused by
compartment covers while the equipment is energized. the casual opening of doors and can keep unqualified
persons out of dangerous spaces. Provisions for padlocking
Section barriers separate and guard adjacent sections
on hinged rear doors of rear access equipment is also
using a combination of grounded metal and polyester
available.
glass. The section barrier provides effective protection from
exposed live parts in adjacent sections. Section barriers will Opening the door of a live closed breaker carries some risk.
also impede the propagation of an arc through equipment. A short circuit can occur at any time and may be located
When a short circuit occurs the arc will want to move along well away from the breaker, so you may have no warning
the conductors in a direction away from the source . This is when a circuit breaker is about to trip on a short circuit. It’s
the “Jacob’s ladder” effect that you’ve seen in those old best not to be immediately in front of a tripping breaker
movies with the mad scientists’ lab. The section barrier when it’s enclosure cover is open. Interlocks are available
can help keep this moving arc from traveling beyond the that prevent operators from opening breaker
faulted section. It also keeps arc byproducts such as compartments while the breaker is closed. Drawout
ionized gases, vaporized metals, and carbon from breaker interlocks may require the breaker to be opened,
spreading and contaminating other sections. and then disconnected from it’s primary stabs before
allowing the door to be opened. Many years ago there
The second option that may be available in rear-access
were also interlocks installed that did not prevent the
type switchboards or switchgear is insulated/isolated bus.
breaker door from opening but tripped the breaker as the
When this option is specified, the main bus is insulated with
door was being opened. Today such interlocks are not
epoxy and each phase of the vertical riser bus is isolated
commonly available nor are they recommended.
from each other using polyester-glass barriers. The bus
joints have removable/ replaceable covers to allow easy Hinged covers and fronts keep the metal cover in better
access to the joints to check bolt tightness when de- control and less likely to fall into energized parts when it is
energized. When this option is provided, the only possible necessary to get inside the enclosure. There are two
exposed live parts are the load side cable lugs. By reducing common ways that the fronts of lighting or distribution
the amount of exposed lived parts, the cable compartment panels can be hinged to expose the wiring gutters inside,
while the deadfront trim in front of the breakers remains in
Figure 4: Low voltage insulated/isolated bus in a rear
Figure 5: Hinged fronts on panelboards.
access Powerbreak II switchboard or AKD-10 or Entellisys
switchgear. Hinged Door
Door-in-Door
to Box
place, so the main bus stays guarded. The “door-in-door” need to be completely shut down in order to work
style can be distinguished by the “picture frame” design of on that circuit or process component.
the sheet metal. The inner door exposes the deadfront trim
Designing for maintainability allows parts of the system to
and breaker operating handles. The outer door allows
be shut down and made electrically safe while keeping the
access to the wireways. The “hinged door to box” style has
load operating and is a prime consideration when
a full-height piano-style hinge along one side which
designing for reliability. Such designs have redundant
remains bolted to the panel box. The door that swings out
paths to feed the load. The alternate path can keep the
is also bolted to the box. Removing just the bolts on the
load operating while the normal path can be de-energized
swing-out piece allows the wiring gutters to be exposed.
for whatever work needs to be performed. If an electrical
The safest work practice of all for electrical equipment is to system cannot be maintained properly then its reliability
turn off the power and make the equipment electrically cannot be assured. Responsible owners who want a high
safe before you open the covers and commence work. The degree of uptime from their equipment realize that
Standard For Electrical Safety in the Workplace, NFPA 70E, reliability is dependent on properly maintained equipment
lists the following as its definition of an “electrically safe and that planned orderly shutdowns are preferred over
work condition.” unplanned unscheduled outages due to failures.
Nonetheless first-cost pressures and or space limitations
1. De-energize the equipment to be worked on
can take priority over life cycle cost justification for
2. VERIFY that the equipment has been truly de- redundant systems and maintainable systems are simply
energized prior to commencing work. not designed.
3. Formal lock-out and tag-out procedures should be Lets turn our attention now to reducing arc affects.
part of any work plan. Remember that the three significant factors previously
mentioned were distance, time, and current magnitude.
4. Installation of grounding cables, where practical
Let’s look at the last two beginning with current.
and/or feasible is recommended, depending on the
equipment or nature of the work. How much current should you expect from an arc? The arc
itself adds resistance to the short circuit path and can
The importance of having accurate single line diagrams
reduce the current significantly. At low voltage, the current
cannot be overstated. They are invaluable in their use as a
of arcing faults is expected to be between 43% to 57% of
reference in assessing the hazards of work about to be
the available three phase bolted fault for bolted fault
done and to allow the worker to identify all potential
currents between 20,000A and 100,000A. This ratio starts
sources of power to the work area so that all can be placed
out high for the smaller currents and gets lower as the
in an electrically safe condition.
bolted fault current increases. But the actual arcing current
The most basic dictate of NFPA 70E is that the equipment might be even lower than what the standard calculations
must be placed in an electrically safe condition before predict, and lower arcing current isn’t always a good thing.
anyone, especially unqualified employees, can be allowed
Short circuit calculations are estimates and carry some
to work on or near exposed parts. The standard only allows
assumptions with them. The assumptions for bolted fault
qualified persons to work on energized live parts that have
current are meant to drive a high number since they were
not be placed into an electrically safe condition. Work on
primarily intended to determine the short circuit ratings of
energized equipment is done all too often because of a
equipment. If anything, we want the equipment to have a
rationale that the load must keep operating for one reason
short circuit rating higher than the available current and
or another. NFPA 70E Section 130.1 recognizes only two
assumptions that raise the calculated current level tend
conditions as justification for working on energized
toward a safer installation. But this means that the arcing
equipment:
current estimate may be much higher than an actual figure.
• De-energizing introduces additional or increased IEEE 1584 recommends making a second calculation at
hazards to the workplace. For example emergency 85% of the bolted fault current to make up for this. But this
alarm systems, hazardous location ventilation, and may not make up for everything.
life support equipment may need to stay energized For example, the utility data could be overstated, using
at all times to keep a workplace safe. data based on future maximum possible capacity rather
• De-energizing is infeasible due to equipment than data based on the actual equipment installed. In
design or operational limitations. Examples: start- addition, ground fault currents may be much lower on
up/trouble shooting, or circuits form an integral cable runs where the impedance of the ground return path
part of a continuous process that would otherwise decreases the current dramatically.
To further make the point that lower currents can be amount of the facility that is shut down when a short circuit
problematic, refer to Figure 6. This shows how a lower occurs. If the protection is not selective, short circuits will
current can make thing worse when applying circuit result in equipment outages affecting much more of the
breakers and the impact of the overcurrent settings on the facility than necessary. Reducing the settings and causing
required PPE. This is an example of a large circuit breaker loss of selectivity may not be an allowable option for
applied as a main in a unit substation. The calculated devices applied on standby systems where the National
bolted fault current is shown by where the curve ends to Electric Code requires selective coordination. Care must
the right, near the bottom of the graph. The yellow region also be exercised on feeders that supply loads that draw
shows the area which the equations indicate are the value high inrush currents upon starting, such as motors.
of arcing faults corresponding to this bolted fault current. Settings arbitrarily reduced too low could nuisance trip on
As you go from the minimum of the range to the highest these inrush currents, and may cause an accident if the
calculated value, the current may be acted on by either the tripping device is in close proximity to the work area and
short time function or the long time function. In this startles a worker when it trips. Fuse selectivity can be
example, the arcing current is never in the instantaneous compromised if reducing the fuse rating to achieve lower
trip portion of the device. Notice how much time effects the arc flash heat release results in compromising the ratio of
category of PPE that should be worn. The clearing time for fuse ratings that assure selectivity.
the breaker to trip could result in a requirement for HRC-3,
If we want to have both high speed protection and
or HRC-4, or beyond the capacity of any PPE.
selectivity, we may need to employ advanced protective
Again, remember that data or assumptions that over- devices. Selective coordination may require settings with
inflated the short circuit calculations could deceive us into high time delays that would allow high arc flash energies.
thinking that the current is higher than it really is. The What’s needed is equipment that reacts to short circuits
current might be lower than that indicated here, making it faster than a completely selective system using
more likely that the long-time setting would have to trip out conventional trip devices and maintains selectivity. This
the arcing fault. kind of protection has been available on equipment rated
above 600V and has recently become available on low
To ensure that arcing faults can be cleared in the lowest
voltage equipment. Advanced protection includes such
time possible, consider temporarily reducing the settings on
things as dynamic zone interlocking and/or bus differential
devices which supply areas where work is about to occur.
protection.
Breakers with fully adjustable trips may have a “reduced
energy let-through” or “maintenance switch” feature that Bus differential protection is inherently selective. A properly
sets the instantaneous setting to a pre-set lower pickup designed system will not react to any short circuit outside
value when this feature is enabled. However, reducing its zone of protection. But it can be very sensitive to short
these settings can compromise the system selectivity for circuits inside the protective zone. The sensitivity setting
the purposes of safety. can be lower than the full load current rating of the
equipment. With such a wide range of sensitivity, the
Selectivity is a system characteristic whereby the protective
likelihood of an internal fault escaping detection by the bus
device ratings and settings are designed to minimize the
differential system is extremely remote. And since the time
Figure 6: Lower arcing current may not be a good thing delay is virtually the same throughout the range of currents
if it means that total clearing time increases. that it detects, it makes determining PPE requirements
CURRENT IN AMPERES Bolted Fault = 50kA easier.
1000
Arcing current 20 – 24kA Dynamic zone selective interlocking adapts to the switching
4000A MAIN
Clearing Time 10.5s configuration of the equipment. It is especially useful on
100
Incident Energy 1858 cal/cm2 main-tie-main designs. It allows the short time and ground
Beyond any PPE Capability fault functions to react to a short circuit as quickly as
TIME IN SECONDS

10
Clearing Time 0.172s possible when the short circuit is located in the feeder’s
Incident Energy 36.3 cal/cm2 zone of protection. It also assures that mains or ties that
1 Risk Category 4 supply the feeder react as quickly as possible to bus faults
and can provide the best possible backup protection should
Inst. Clearing Time 0.05s
0.10 Incident Energy 10.5 cal/cm2
a feeder fail to isolate the short circuit.
Risk Category 3 Enhanced protection is now possible in low voltage systems
0.01
0.5 1 10 100 1K 10K
using Entellisys low voltage switchgear. The central
arc flash 2.tcc Ref. Voltage: 480 Current in Amps x 100 arc flash.drw processor concept of Entellisys allows it to monitor all the
breakers simultaneously. It can act selectively upon a short
circuit based on fault location, not just fault current
magnitude and time delay settings. The Entellisys HMI
touchscreen panel provides full access to all settings,
controls, and event logs, and can be located outside the
flash protection boundary. The optional remote racking
operator allows racking the breaker outside the flash
protection boundary. Through Entellisys, cost-effective bus
differential protection is now available. The bus differential
protection provides fast selective protection from internal
faults. It ensures that arcing currents cannot be too low
that the protection cannot detect and isolate them rapidly.
The reduced energy let-through mode places protective
settings at minimum values to limit the arc flash energy
while workers are near or in the equipment. The reduced
energy let-through mode can be enabled either through the
HMI or through discrete switches located at access points
to the electrical room.
Circuit breaker trips for insulated case and low voltage
power circuit breakers have improved zone selective
interlocking that helps achieve lower arc incident energy
levels on the main bus. Through the ability to set both the
“unrestrained” and “restrained” settings, the feeder
breakers can be adjusted to be selective with downstream
feeders and branch devices while allowing the possibility
for the main settings to clear faster than the feeder
settings. On equipment employing low voltage power
circuit breakers, the instantaneous trips can be zone
interlocked to reduce the time delays even more while
assuring selective operation. The GE Entelliguard TU trip
device can provide the protective features described.
It is our hope that this article has given you some useful
information concerning the Three A’s of Arc Flash and you
will no longer be at risk due a to lack of awareness about
arc flash. And that this awareness will prompt you to
perform the required analysis to determine the hazards
that may be involved in working in or around electrical
equipment. And that you always promote safety in your
workplace through your own actions, both on and off the
job; and promote improving the workplace and its
equipment to make a safer work environment. Please visit
www.geelectrical.com on the web if you’d like more
information.