ARC FLASH STUDY IN AUSTRALIA

Care Labs is a competitive provider of electrical arc flash study, analysis, and certification services for all types of facilities.

Trained professionals will examine arc flash risks, training workers, documentation, and PPE requirement to ensure your electrical safety program is up to date, compliant, and comprehensive.

Care Labs are capable of identifying arc flash risks at an early stage and can adopt appropriate steps to mitigate the effects of harmonic distortions to ensure the safe operation of the equipment.

We use ETAP (Electrical Transient Analysis Program) software analysis for Arc flash analysis and study.

An arc flash is the amount of light and heat produced as a result of an arc fault. It usually occurs when current flows through an air gap in between the conductors.

Arc flash causes ionization of air and gives out a large amount of light and heat of approximately 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

An arc flash analysis is the process of studying & analyzing the facility’s electrical installations to determine the amount of incident energy available with each electrical device.

Arc flash study establishes safety protocols for qualified electricians to work on the equipment and circuits to create a safe working condition also includes short circuit and coordination study and updated electrical one-line diagrams and equipment locations.

On November 2019, while working at a construction site in Mirrabooka, Perth- an electrical worker received severe electrical burns due to an arc flash fault. The accident is currently being investigated by Work safe and Energy Safety WA.

Those in Western Australia may recall the Morley Galleria shopping center arc flash explosion of 2015. While electricians were performing maintenance on an 11 kV switch, an arc flash fault occurred killing two persons and two others got injured severely.

Objectives of Arc Flash Study:

To determine the extent of personnel injury due to exposure to incident energy released during an arc flash fault
To reduce the exposure to incident energy by using protective device settings
To provide recommendations on arc flash hazard protection
Comply with country standard rules and regulations

Harmful Effects of Arc Flash:

Arcs cause severe burns to the skin, face, and eyes
Inhaled gases and molten particles can cause serious internal burns to the throat and lungs
Physical injuries from flying debris and dislodged components

Arc flash studies are significant in reducing hazards and for providing increased safety for electrical workers, and the company’s overall safety. The arc flash study helps in identifying electrical risk levels and assisting in applying appropriate safety practices to minimize the risks of burns and injuries.

Arc flash analysis is important for all utilities, manufacturing, industrial, and commercial companies that have major electrical components like electrical disconnects, motor control, panel boards, switchboards, etc.

Advantage of Arc Flash Study:

Improved safety for men and machine
Reduced medical costs and legal fees
Regulatory compliance with safety standards
Reduced standards violations and fines

The steps followed for arc flash analysis are:

Collection of data
Performing field verification
System modeling
Arc flash analysis

Work Process of Care Labs Arc Flash Study:

Care Labs offer outstanding services and will ensure support to the site team, local contractor, or engineering firm with any services you prefer.

Our work process includes:

Collection of data
Modeling power system using ETAP
Short circuit study
Overcurrent Protective device coordination study
Arc flash study
Arc flash evaluation
Documentation
Arc flash hazard mitigation methods
Full-sized one-line diagrams
Installation of arc flash labels
Final report

Australian Standards for Arc Flash Study:

The latest version of AS3000:2018 in which a new section 2.9 against fire hazards due to arc fault hazards has been introduced. It is included to understand the types of arc faults and requirements for arc flash detection devices.

The Australian Energy Council -AEC has released their electrical arc flash hazard management guidelines in 2019 to increase arc flash hazards awareness and to minimize the risk of injury.

The guidelines highlight collective electric flash hazard knowledge. It describes the hierarchy of control that can be applied to arc flash management. It identifies typical electrical activities like proving the equipment is de-energized, IR thermography, and typical arc flash controls.

Benefits of Availing Service from Care Labs:

Design safer power systems complying with standards and regulations
Getting a complete integrated short circuit, overcurrent coordination, device evaluation, and arc flash evaluation modules working together with protective devices and bus ratings
Providing a safer working environment
Proposal of alternatives quickly and easily to establish optimal design
Improvement of safety margins with user-definable arc fault tolerances
Retain time by auto generating arc flash labels by our computer aided analysis
Avoid losing productivity and maintenance cost

Care labs have their crew members deployed in various locations, so our specialists are nearby in case of a routine or emergency. In a very short period, Care labs have been established as an ISO 9001:2008 certified organization and have acquired a reputed client base with excellent feedbacks.

We offer arc flash study and analysis services in all the major cities of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.