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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

WE Energies To Pay Damages In Plant Accident

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports today on the court judgment resulting from an arc flash injury at the Patrick Cudahy meat packing plant.

The article reports that Neil Wolf was injured by an arc flash on May 26, 2003, at the Patrick Cudahy plant. The jury awarded $515,000 to Mr. Wolf.

WE Energies, the local power company, was found to be 37% negligent and will have to pay $190,550 of the award.

Patrick Cudahy was found to be 55% responsible. But because Patrick Cudahy was a plaintiff, not a defendant in this case, they will not need to pay any of the jury award.

Mr. Wolf was found to be 10% responsible.

You can read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article at: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=727274

OSHA imposed $148,500 in fines in December 2004. The following is what OSHA reported at that time:

"Three workers were reported to have been troubleshooting electrical switchgear at the Cudahy, Wis., facility when electricity arched and exploded. OSHA's investigation revealed that the three workers, all of whom received first, second and third degree burns throughout their bodies, were not using insulated tools, were not wearing proper personal protective equipment, and were not following appropriate safety standards. OSHA issued willful and serious violations to Cudahy for allegedly failing to provide such equipment, and warning or training the workers about flash hazards."

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Victims Of Arc Flash

The statistics say that 10 people a day are injured by arc flash. More and more of these people are telling their stories using video. I'm finding new videos on a regular basis. In the following video a man and his wife tell the story of his injury as a result of an arc flash. It is called "Arc Flash - Survival or Prevention. The David Bird Story."



Why are so many videos about arc flash showing up on the internet? My guess is because arc flash injuries are so sudden and unexpected, and the consequences are serious. The key word here is "unexpected". Arc flash hazards have been ignored until recently. Most equipment that presents an arc flash hazard is not even properly labeled. Workers have not had arc flash safety training.

This is a safety hazard that can not be ignored any longer.

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Friday, January 04, 2008

Square D Electrical Safety Video

I've featured many videos on this blog. A problem has been that, no matter how good the video, since they came from YouTube many people could not use them. Square D has produced an excellent electrical safety video that is available for downloading. This means you can put this video on any computer and show it anywhere you need to do electrical safety training.

All that is required is a short registration process.

Use this link to go to the registration/download page.

This video covers electrical safety in general, with a heavy emphasis on arc flash safety. A dramatic video of an arc flash explosion demonstrates the effectiveness of PPE and how serious arc flash injuries can be.

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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Interview With An Arc Flash Victim

In this six minute video arc flash victim Ed Manthei describes what happened when he was involved in an arc flash accident. He then goes on to describes the medical procedures that were required and what was involved in his recovery.


This video does not have the emotional impact of the Donnie's Accident video, but it still delivers a strong message about the dangers of arc flash.

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Monday, August 06, 2007

Donnie's Accident

I stumbled on this video, showing the effects of an arc flash accident, on YouTube today.

This is an emotionally powerful video that shows how a workplace accident impacts more than the workplace.

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Friday, May 11, 2007

Severe Burns Received From 11Kv Arc Flash Explosion

Ferret.com.au reported that an electrician in Australia was injured in an arc flash explosion in a mine switchroom. The article states:

"A CONTRACT electrician recommissioning high-voltage electrical equipment in a mine site switchroom has been severely burnt by an 11kV arc flash explosion inside the cubical containing the main incoming circuit breaker."

The electrician was apparently following the proper proceedures and the cause of the arc flash is not known.

You can read the complete article at: http://www.ferret.com.au/articles/8d/0c049b8d.asp

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Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Two Injured In Arc Flash Accident at Alcoa

The Quad-Cities Online (Iowa) reports today that two contractor employees at the Alcoa Davenport Works were injured by an arc flash incident yesterday. The article reports:

"Alcoa spokesman John Riches said the two contractors were doing routine maintenance on a high-voltage electrical substation just outside the Riverdale plant. He said one person sustained severe electrical burns when he or she became grounded, creating an arc flash at about 1:30 p.m."

"A second contractor who was some distance away from the first also was burned but not as badly, according to Mr. Riches. The second contractor was transported by ambulance to a local hospital."

You can read the complete story at: http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=337424

It is interesting to read the public comments that are attached to this article. They provide a different perspective showing a small part of how industrial safety is perceived by the public.

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Thursday, May 03, 2007

Rochester Public Utilities Worker Burned in Arc Flash Accident

The Rochester, Minnesota Post-Bulletin reported yesterday that a lineman for Rochester Public Utilities was burned by an arc flash. The newspaper reported that:

"The man, one of about 20 line workers for the utility, was injured at a transformer while extending power to a construction site in the 500 block of Third Avenue Southeast, just south of the downtown area, Benson said. The injured worker's name is not yet being released by RPU officials."

"Benson said the lineman suffered 'arc flash burns,' and was burned on his arms, stomach and face."

The lineman was wearing PPE including a flame retardant shirt, gloves, safety vest, glasses and a hard hat.

Read the complete article.

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Friday, April 20, 2007

Electrical Burn Photos

A significant percent of electrical injuries happen because a worker took a short cut or ignored safety procedures. Because they did not recognize the severity of the hazard, they thought they could "get away" with not fully complying with all requirements.

OSHA has published a set of photographs you can use to help your employees, vendors and contractors recognize the danger of electrical burns. These are not pleasant pictures to see, but they get the point across... don't take shortcuts when it comes to electrical safety.

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Monday, April 02, 2007

Lax Lockout Procedures Result in Arc Flash Burns to Navy Worker

Machinery & Equipment MRO reports:

"Nova Scotia authorities concluded that an arc flash accident that burned a worker aboard a navy ship on February 15, 2007, was caused by the employee’s failure to follow established lockout and tag-out procedures, reports Canadian OH&S News."

Having the proper lockout/tagout equipment and supplies, providing the necessary training, and ensuring that lockout/tagout proceedures are always followed are all important in preventing arc flash injuries. There is no excuse when an injury results from an arc flash in equipment that should have been de-energized, and properly locked out.

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Thursday, February 15, 2007

Protecting Against Arc Flash Hazards

The January 2007 issue of Occupational Hazards magazine includes an article by Sandy Smith that looks at what went wrong in an arc flash fatality. The article opens by pointing out:

"In 2005, 250 workers died as a result of coming into contact with an electrical current, often the result of arc flash occurring from equipment that was not de-energized before repair or maintenance work began."

What happened was a lineman, who "was part a three-man crew involved in replacing cables under a switch cabinet" was working within the 24 inch hot zone near a 17,400 volt switch, but he was not wearing his insulated hard hat. His head can too close to the energized switch and there was an arc flash.

The article lists the results of the NIOSH investigation and makes recommendations for preventing this type of fatality.

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Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Arc Flash Fatality In A Mine

"On October 12, 2006, a 24-year old maintenance coordinator, with 1 year and 4 months mining experience, was fatally injured at an iron ore operation. The victim was troubleshooting an electrical fault in a high-voltage motor control center when a sustained arc blast occurred."

Read the OSHA Report

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Monday, February 05, 2007

Failure to Wear Proper PPE Results In Arc Flash Injury

A report from the Department of Energy Office of Health, Safety and Security describes an arc flash incident that happened in April 2006. This report caught my eye because the incident involved an electrical engineer. We sometimes focus training on employees in crafts or trades, and neglect others who may be exposed to workplace hazards. I'm an electrical engineer who worked as a field and sales engineer for 16 years. In all of that time the only facility I can remember requiring me to go through their safety training was the Boise Cascade St. Helens paper mill. Although the engineer who was injured in the DOE incident described in this report was a DOE employee, this report serves as a good reminder that everyone with access to a facility--employees, management, contractors, inspectors and vendors--needs to be aware of the potential dangers in that facility and be fully trained concerning required protective measures.

Read The DOE Article

This article is titled "Failure To Wear Proper PPE", but when you read the complete report you'll see that there was more to this accident. PPE is protection of last resort. It would be much better if the accident had been prevented in the first place. Page two of the report identifies five problems:

– Failure to ensure the ground fault monitoring detection system was operable.

– NFPA 70 for ground fault protection was not implemented.

– They failed to implement work controls for ungrounded delta systems that could have a ground fault.

– Protection boundaries had not been established and the panel was not properly labeled.

– Established work proceedures, which should have resulted in the engineer being stopped from working on the panel without proper PPE, were not followed.

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Monday, December 18, 2006

Loose Tool Falls, Causes Arc Flash Injury

A report put out by SHARP* describes an arc flash injury that was caused by a falling tool. A small tool fell into an energized breaker panel coming into contact with energized wires.

The report also includes six recommendations for preventing accidents such as this.

Another report put out by SHARP describes how two electricians were injured by an arc flash when a ground wire touched an energized circuit. One electrician sustained second and third degree burns covering nearly 50% of his body. He required surgery for removal of destroyed skin and restorative skin grafts. He needed physical therapy for nearly a year.

*SHARP is the Safety and Health Assessment ans Research for Prevention (SHARP) program at the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries.

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Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Three Injured By Arc Flash - Video

Magna Electric has a video on their web site that shows an arc flash incident that injured three workers. The video was taken by a security camera.

What I hope you notice in these videos is that arc flash is a hazard that needs to be taken very seriously. There are five to ten arc flash incidents daily. It can happen in your facility. Please read this blog and our web site for more information about arc flash and NFPA 70E.

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Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Arc Flash Incident On A Submarine

In an IEEE paper Ben Johnson tells the story of an arc flash incident on a submarine. Please note that this link goes to a Word document that includes images. It is about 7.5mb in size. The story is short, well told and interesting. Although the incident happened 40 years ago, the message is relevant to us today.

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Wednesday, July 26, 2006

The Dangers of Arc Flash Incidents

"Between five and 10 times a day, an arc flash explosion occurs in electric equipment somewhere in the United States that sends a burn victim to a special burn center, according to statistics compiled by CapSchell, Inc., a Chicago-based research and consulting firm that specializes in preventing workplace injuries and deaths.

That number does not include cases sent to regular hospitals and clinics, or unreported cases and “near misses,” estimated to be many times that number. There are one or two deaths a day from these multi-trauma events, noted Dr. Mary Capelli-Schellpfeffer, principal investigator.

The above quote is from an article in Maintenance Technology magazine titled "The Dangers of Arc Flash Incidents".

The article starts by discussing what an arc flash is and what the causes are. It points out that one utility had 2.2 arc flash incidents a year at an average cost of over 15 million dollars per incident. The article then goes on to point out that Safety Programs are a key to eliminating injuries from arc flash. A hazard analysis provides the facts that are needed, then standards such as NFPA 70E are applied to determine safety boundaries, required PPE, work practices, and proper labeling and signage.

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