Custom Arc Flash Assessment Packages

Contact us to build a custom package of the studies your business needs to help mitigate arc flash risks and obtain a comprehensive range of detailed analyses for your facility to lower incident energy levels. Through thorough arc flash assessment, we identify hazards, calculate incident energies, and implement mitigation techniques to enhance safety and compliance with standards.

What is an Arc Flash?

An Arc Flash is the light and heat produced from an electric arc supplied with sufficient electrical energy to cause substantial damage, fire, or injury. Electrical arcs experience negative resistance, which causes the electrical resistance to decrease as the arc temperature increases. This phenomenon causes a flashover of electric current leaving its intended path and travels through the air from one conductor to another, or to ground.

An arc flash study is the first step to determine the degree of hazards associated with Arc Flash. Read our blog about Why Safety Matters. Once the incident energies are calculated, the worker's safety can be optimized by selecting the appropriate Personnel Protection Equipment (PPE). Also, Arc Flash mitigation techniques can be implemented to lower the incident energies and effectively reduce its impact.

Standards and Compliance

OSHA, NFPA 70, and NFPA 70E require employers to inform their employees of the hazards associated with exposure to electrical arcs.

IEEE-1584 and NFPA 70E standards explain the fundamentals of arc flash, incident energy calculations, and suitable PPE for each hazard level. These calculations uses the results of the short-circuit and coordination studies.

Arc flash assessment consists of the following:

The gathered data is modeled using a specialized computer software and a series of simulations are produced for short circuit, time current curves for Arc Flash Analysis, Load Flow Analysis, Short-Circuit Analysis, and Coordination Analysis.

2. Arc Flash Analysis

1. Electrical Equipment Surveying

An electrical survey is completed in order to gather the technical data such as equipment ratings, protective devices settings, cable sizes. A sketch of the one-line diagram is developed for the electrical system.

We offer the service to draft a one-line diagram of the overall system in AutoCAD for troubleshooting and records purposes.

4. Drafted One-Line Diagram

The arc flash levels are evaluated, and the worst-case scenarios are used to print the arc flash labels. A technical report is developed summarizing the results of the different studies and recommendations are given for arc flash mitigation and system optimization.