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Stage Three - Hazard Reduction

When all possible avenues to reduce the arc flash energies have been exhausted on the existing electrical system, further steps can be considered to further reduce the incident energies and therefore increase the safety of the personnel.

These can be divided into separate categories:

Further protection changes:
- reduction the protection settings to the point when discrimination is sacrificed
- replacing the existing protection devices with more modern counterparts
- introducing supplementary protection devices
- maintenance mode relays

Arc Flash systems:
– installation of dedicated arc flash detection systems (current and optical detection)
- arc suppression systems
- ultra-fast earth switches

Engineering solutions:
- maintenance mode panels for maintenance protection settings
- remote switching panels that remove operator directly from the front of the switchgear
- replacing switchgear with arc-rated type

Procedural changes:
- implementation of safer control/mitigation procedures like stricter permit system, remote switchgear operation where possible
- personnel access restrictions
- enhanced maintenance and testing procedures like thermal scanning and partial discharge testing

Continuous improvement:
- personnel training to introduce the arc flash terminology and risks associated with electrical operations related to arc flash
- equipment labelling to provide clear information for personnel operating the equipment about inherent risks and recommended PPE equipment
- assigning correct PPE for every task