Objetivos del currículo

Do you hate wearing your PPE? Doesn’t everyone? Who wants to wear clothing and equipment that is hot, bulky, interferes with the job, slows you down, makes you itch, fogs up your protective eyewear, and causes you to sweat to the point that you become uncomfortable?

Does any of this sound familiar? And did you know the NFPA 70E standard has many pages on what to wear and how to wear it? In the 70E standard, there are two tables on shock hazards, one for ac voltages and one for dc voltages, and seven tables specifically on arc-flash clothing and PPE. Four of these tables appear in Annex H. (Note to all: make sure you check these out!) These tables, and the supporting text in the standard and annexes, represent a tremendous amount of time, research, and effort on the part of companies and individuals who contribute to NFPA 70E, all with the intent of preventing people from being injured or killed. This column will highlight two incidents involving arc flash events. One person was protected by PPE, and the other was not.

THE FIRST INCIDENT

The first incident involved a gentleman named Donnie Johnson.

Donnie has a website at www.donniesaccident.com and has given us permission to use his story to help others avoid what happened to him. The following is a brief summary of the incident, and we would encourage readers to view his video and read the complete article on his website.

Donnie Johnson is the assistant manager of the service department for an electrical contractor. He has been an electrician for 28 years. On Thursday, August 12, 2004, Donnie was involved in an arc flash incident and suffered third degree burns down to the muscle on both arms and hands, and second degree burns to his face, head, and neck. In Donnie’s words, “I have sat through safety meetings before, thinking the whole time that the only reason for the meeting was to meet some company insurance requirement or the company just trying to cover itself in case an accident happened. Once this happened to me, I realized whether or not this was the case, the things they were saying could have protected me.

Honestly, if I had been wearing the personal protection equipment that was provided for me, that I was trained to use and still in the PPE bag between the front seats of my van; my trip to the hospital would have probably been just for a check-up and a few, minor burns. Although my injuries were electrical in nature, whether you are a plumber, a carpenter or a mason there are safety procedures that could protect you from injury or save your life.”

Donnie mistakenly used a motor rotation meter, which should only be used on deenergized circuits to check phase rotation on a live, 480- volt circuit. The resulting meter failure blew carbon into the energized bus, creating a phaseto- phase arc flash that severely injured him. Again quoting Donnie, “I remember hearing some sizzling noise and seeing few glowing orange spots or slag, other than that it was pitch black. I could see daylight from around the exterior door of the room and I just started heading that way. I scrambled on my finger tips and toes and it felt as if something had a hold on my belt loop, like I couldn’t move fast enough.

There had been two maintenance men from this facility in the electric room with me but they were on the other side of the equipment. I called out their names, but didn’t hear a response.

I found out later from them that they had gotten out just as the explosions started and that it had been a little longer than I had recalled from the actual explosion until I found my way out of the building. I remember standing up outside and realizing that I was hurt, but I still didn’t fathom how bad. I thought to myself that this kind of thing ‘doesn’t happen to me.’” Donnie was obviously in shock from the heat and arc blast created by the arc flash.

He was fortunate in one regard, he did not inhale the vaporized copper, which could have seared his esophagus and lungs, and then solidified, closing his airway and rendering portions of his lungs non-functional.

NETA World, Summer 2012 Issue by Jim White and Ron Widup

Shermco Industries

Figures 1: Damaged Equipment Arc-Flash Handbook 43

Donnie remembers little from the time he was admitted until about a month and a half later, but his wife kept a journal while he was in the hospital: “Over the next couple of days I became very swollen and was looking bad. My dad came to see me for the first time, and usually an unemotional man he was visibly upset. On the fifth day the surgeons grafted skin from my right leg to my right arm. All went well and I was due to have the breathing tube removed within a day or two. My mother and step-father came to Tampa to help my wife. The next day, my blood pressure dropped extremely low and my heart rate increased significantly. The doctors tested for infection. Test results would not be back for two days. My brother came to town as I was not looking good. While waiting for the test results and my health was deteriorating, all my wife could do was worry. The test results showed I had an E. coli infection in my lungs. This would be the first of many infections.

Your skin is your main protection from infection, and with the burns on my arms, the grafting on my legs and the breathing tube, it was open season on me for every infection that came along.

These infections slowed the healing process of my injuries to almost a stand still. I developed pneumonia and blood infections.

A decision was made to graft my left arm as well because the burns were not healing as expected. My health continued to falter. The infections, wounds and the medicines also prevented me from receiving tube feeding, so my only source of nourishment was an IV drip.” Donnie returned to work in early 2006. That was 18 months of his life he will never get back, 18months of pain, frustration, and rehabilitation. Donnie is also lucky in the respect that his wife stood beside him through all this. Often, the stresses created by the aftereffects of a major accident can destroy what has often become an already weakened and strained relationship.

Having a strong family and spousal relationship is an important aspect of recovery.

THE SECOND INCIDENT

The second incident occurred in December of 2009. A contractor was finishing the installation of new medium-voltage switchgear.

The contractor installed all the panels, but neglected to remove the temporary protective grounds installed as part of his procedure. The contractor then informed the owner that the switchgear was ready for energization. When the owner’s electrician closed the circuit breaker, the resulting arc flash blew the doors open, exposing the electrician to the heat and pressure wave of the arc. Figures 1 and 2 show the damaged equipment. Note the damage to the side of the switchgear enclosure.

The end result of this story is far different, though. There was no lengthy, painful hospital stay, no rehabilitation, no skin grafts or infections. This worker had donned his 40 cal/cm2 arc-rated flash suit prior to operating this new switchgear. As a result of following both safe work practices as outlined in NFPA 70E and his company’s safe work practices and procedures this electrician had no injuries …even though the intense heat pretty much destroyed his PPE! (See Figures 3 and 4.)

Figures 2: Damaged Equipment

Figures 3 & 4: Destoyed PPE

Arc-Flash Handbook 44

SUMMARY

Is there anyone who actually enjoys wearing arcrated protective clothing and PPE? Probably not. But we do not only because it is a necessity and a requirement of our jobs, not only because it is the rules and what the company tells us to do, but we also do it for ourselves and our families.

In spite of its shortcomings, PPE does work. Despite any controversy about what actual exposures may or may not be for any specific circumstance and even if the PPE is under-rated for the incident energy, the injuries received will be much less severe than if no PPE had been worn. An arc-flash event can change your life in an instant, and not for the better. Most of us will find our careers changed or even ended, our lives significantly less than they would have been. Like Donnie, we may be wiser for the experience, but would any of us volunteer for that? If not for yourself, think of the negative effects that such an event can have on your family, your spouse, and your children who did not ask to be spectators to the slow, painful rebuilding of your life, an event that can be avoided with safe work practices and that PPE you hate to wear.

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Ron Widup and Jim White are NETA’S representatives to NFPA Technical Committee 70E (Electrical Safety Requirements for Employee Workplaces). Both gentlemen are employees of Shermco Industries in Dallas, Texas a NETA Accredited Company.

Ron Widup is President of Shermco and has been with the company since 1983. He is a Principal member of the Technical Committee on “Electrical Safety in the Workplace” (NFPA 70E) and a Principal member of the National Electrical Code (NFPA 70) Code Panel 11. He is also a member of the technical committee “Recommended Practice for Electrical Equipment Maintenance” (NFPA 70B), and a member of the NETA Board of Directors and Standards Review Council.

Jim White is nationally recognized for technical skills and safety training in the electrical power systems industry.

He is the Training Director for Shermco Industries, and has spent the last twenty years directly involved in technical skills and safety training for electrical power system technicians. Jim is a Principal member of NFPA 70B representing Shermco Industries, NETA’s alternate member of NFPA 70E, and a member of ASTM F18 Committee “Electrical Protective Equipment for Workers”.

Arc-Flash Handbook 45

ARC-FLASH CLOTHING AND PPE