Personal Protective Equipment

With new revisions to the National Electrical Safety Code (NESC), many electric utilities and contractors are discovering that a standard HRC 2 program is no longer adequate. Numerous companies are now turning to layering of flame-resistant (FR) garments to achieve the required levels of protection. Well-designed, well-managed layering programs will increase worker safety and comfort. This article will discuss why layering is important and how to ensure that your layering program works.

Have you ever noticed that management likes to show up to monitor the helicopter operations? Doesn’t it seem like all the attention is paid to helicopters, stringing operations and setting 500 kV transformers? Does the same crowd show up when one of your workers is trimming trees on the right-of-way (ROW) without a face shield or chaps? Or when someone is wearing an unbuttoned FR shirt with the sleeves rolled up? How about when you climb into a vault with an attendant that’s too busy texting his girlfriend to make sure that your air monitor was calibrated recently?

In 2012, both NFPA 70E and the NESC will change personal protective equipment (PPE) and give guidance to utilities and industrial electrical workers that they haven’t previously had. Under NESC 2007, low-voltage (LV) work in utilities had only basic coverage. If 4 cal/cm² arc flash PPE clothing was worn, the company was in compliance. There was no requirement to do an arc flash assessment if 4 cal/cm² clothing was used.

The current state of FR clothing for qualified electrical workers seems to be still greatly misunderstood. However, the current FR clothing requirement is very straightforward once you decide what side of the fence you’re on – the National Electric Safety Code (NESC) or the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

In the electric, gas and telecommunication construction trades, hands rank at the top of the list of body parts most frequently injured. The following Tailgate provides an overview of work gloves and other considerations to ensure your hands remain injury-free from routine daily tasks.

In a few years I’ll be 60. I’ve been in the business now for 37 years, but no one ever talked to me about how to care for my feet until I finally had to go to a podiatrist a few years ago. When he looked at my X-rays he said, quite confidently, “You are a lineman right?” It seems he had seen the picture several times before.

Many electrical workers and engineers are familiar with the phrase “NFPA 70E,” but don’t have a good understanding of what the standard includes. The following Tailgate Topic is a summary of the standard and what it means to you as an electrical worker.

Some utility personnel have resisted arc-flash compliance with the presumption that arc flashes and blasts are not a major issue for the utility industry. Organizations and standards committees such as IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), NFPA70E (National Fire Protection Association), EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute), CRN (Cooperative Research Network) and others confirm this as a false statement. An IEEE study concluded, “To decrease the number and severity of non-fatal electrical burn injuries, direct worker exposure to electrical arc energy must be reduced.”

If you consider personal safety equipment inconvenient and uncomfortable to wear, you may want to consider the alternatives.

San Diego Gas & Electric recently hosted a Western Fall Restraint Conference. SDG&E is moving forward in establishing safer climbing practices and knew they would benefit from bringing their western partners together to share what has worked for them in launching a new program, best practices, equipment concerns and overall experiences.