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In This Issue
August Survey Results: Energized Work Permit
September Survey: Electrical Safety Program
ASTM Standards News
ICUEE Article: 5 PPE Challenges from 2012 Standards
OSHA Cranes & Derricks Settlement
Publish date of NFPA 70E 2012
OSHA Fines this Month
Webinar: Arc PPE Changes in NESC and NFPA 70E for 2012
Continuing Education Credits
Burn Up the Myth: Is Training Enough?
Arc Test Dates
News This Month
Sponsor
Lenzing Protective Clothing 

Sponsor

CUSP

e-Hazard Trainer Speaking Events

e-Hazard Trainers including Hugh Hoagland, Bill Shinn, Lee Hale, Drake Drobnick, Al Havens, Daleep Mohla and others speak at events all over the world. Here are some events where you can find us:

 

Western Electric 

 

 

7th Annual Joint Western Regional Mine Safety and Health Conference 

Las Vegas, NV

October 25-26, 2011

Al Havens

 

ICUEE 

Louisville, KY

October 4-6, 2011

Hugh Hoagland

 

Arc Flash Forum

 Sydney, AU 

October 20-21, 2011

Hugh Hoagland

 

 

 IWEA 2011 Plant Operator Seminar

 Rockford, IL

October 26, 2011

Lee Hale 

 

National Safety Council 

Philadelphia, PA

Oct 30-Nov 4, 2011

Hugh Hoagland & Drake Drobnick

 

IEEE Electrical Safety Workshop 

Daytona Beach, FL

Jan 31-Feb 3, 2012

Hugh Hoagland & Mikhail Golovkov

 

Sponsor

Amplitude FR

Upcoming Classes

 

NFPA 70E 2012 Electrical Safety in the Workplace 

Low Voltage

Qualified

 

 NFPA 70E

 

 NFPA 70E-2012 Low Voltage Qualified Training 

Seattle, WA

October 19, 2011

 

NFPA 70E-2012 Low Voltage Qualified Training 

Evansville, IN 

November 2, 2011

 

NFPA 70E-2012 Low Voltage Qualified Training 

Allentown, PA

November 8, 2011

 

NFPA 70E-2012 Low Voltage Qualified Training 

Northbrook, IL

November 15, 2011

 

 NFPA 70E-2012 Low Voltage Qualified Training 

Atlanta, GA

November 16, 2011

 

NFPA 70E-2012 Low Voltage Qualified Training 

Louisville, KY 

December 5, 2011

 

NFPA 70E-2012 Low Voltage Qualified Training 

Decatur, AL

January 24, 2012 

 

High Voltage

Qualified

 

HV Qualified Training 

Louisville, KY

December 6, 2011

 

Train The Trainer

 

NFPA 70E-2012 LV & HV  

Train The Trainer 

 Dec 5-8,2011 

Louisville, KY

 

 

 

Sponsor

Amplitude FR
Sponsor
Lenzing Protective Clothing 

Sponsor

Walls FR

Sponsor

CUSP
Featured Product

Dickie's Electrician's Belt

Sponsor

Walls FR
Featured Product
Carhartt

Carhartt Electrician's Belt
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Quick Links
 

September 2011

Dear ArcLetter Member,

 

The ArcWear™ e-Hazard.com Electric Arc and Safety Newsletter provides a quick update on Arc Rated and Flame Resistant Clothing issues and news from OSHA and standards committees. The newsletter is FREE, reaches over 13,000 people and will bring you up to date on the issues that surround flame resistant clothing for flash fire hazards and the electric arc. For previous newsletters or to sign up, visit http://www.arcwear.com or http://www.e-Hazard.com

August Survey Results: Energized Work Permit 

Last month's survey question:

    When do you require an Energized Work Permit?




AUG NL SV RS 

 

 In the August Newsletter we asked you when you require an Energized Work Permit. With a total of 46 respondents, the majority answered all energized work except testing/troubleshooting.   

September Survey:  Electrical Safety Program 
ASTM Standard News

New Approved ASTM Standards

D1048 - Standard Specification for Rubber Insulating Blankets

 To receive this standard free, join ASTM F18 and choose volume 10.3 as your free volume standard.  The cost is $75 per year and you can join subcommittees related to electrical safety and standards.  Then you can download about 100 standards in PDF to stay up to date on these vital standards in OSHA, NFPA 70E and NESC.

Click here to join ASTM F18.

ICUEE Article

 

IU Cover
 

 

 

Be sure to read Incident Prevention Magazine next month to read Hugh Hoagland's article on the 5 PPE Safety Challenges for 2012.

 

Haven't subscribed? Click the link below to sign up for your FREE subscription!  

 

 Click here to subscribe! 

OSHA Cranes and Derricks Final Rule  

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released an historic new standard, addressing the use of cranes and derricks in construction and replacing a decades old standard. The significant number of fatalities associated with the use of cranes and derricks in construction and the considerable technological advances in equipment since the publication of the old rule, issued in 1971, led the Labor Department to undertake this rulemaking.

Several provisions have been modified from the proposed rule. For example:
  • Employers must comply with local and state operator licensing requirements which meet the minimum criteria specified in � 1926.1427.

  • Employers must pay for certification or qualification of their currently uncertified or unqualified operators.

  • Written certification tests may be administered in any language understood by the operator candidate.

  • When employers with employees qualified for power transmission and distribution are working in accordance with the power transmission and distribution standard (� 1910.269), that employer will be considered in compliance with this final rule's requirements for working around power lines.

  • Employers must use a qualified rigger for rigging operations during assembly/disassembly.

  • Employers must perform a pre-erection inspection of tower cranes.

For more information regarding these changes, please visit:

 

http://www.osha.gov/as/opa/cranesderricks-factsheet.html 

 

Pub Date for NFPA 70E 2012 Edition

NFPA 70E 2012 is now out.NFPA 70E 2012 Electrical Safety in the Workplace

 

e-Hazard's free update will be online for Train the Trainer (TTT) attendees next week at http://www.e-hazardonline.com in the Low Voltage (LV) folder.  The standard's effective date is August 31, 2011. Old labels installed pre-September 30, 2011, will be grandfathered. New labels will have new requirements.

 

e-Hazard Classes are now available on the new materials.  

 

Our new Train the Trainer (TTT) class in Louisville in December 2011 will cover our materials on the new standard.   

 

Click here to order or get the latest info on NFPA 70E straight from NFPA. 

 

 

Click here to see our TTT class or sign up for a class.

 

Fines by OSHA on Electrical Hazards this Month
Most citations this month include electrical hazards. 
Fuse used

Click here to see the citations and our commentary.
Join Our Webinar! 

JOIN US!


Date: Thursday, October 6th, 2011

Time: 1:00 - 2:30PM

Cost: $99.00

Topic: Flame Resistant Sales and Product Development




Continuing Education Credits 

There are no nation-wide standards for the licensing of engineers or electricians. Each state has its own policies and requirements, and it is imperative that all individuals in these professions be knowledgeable of the guidelines in their respective locations.  

 

Engineers are responsible for managing their own Professional Development Hours (PDH); the vast majority of State Licensing Boards do not pre-approve providers or courses.  

 

Licensing of electricians/contractors is extremely variable.  

Examples of various state licensing requirements: **

  • require both licensing and continuing education credits * 
    • AK, DE, FL, ID, KY, LA, MT, NC, NJ, NE, NM, OH, OR, SD, TX, UT, WA, WI, WY
  • require no licensing at state level
  • require licensing at state level but no continuing education credits
  • require training on local laws and administrative rules as part of any continuing education credit
  • require training only on NEC code for continuing education credit
  • require that their state's schools provide continuing education training or be in partnership w/ approved state associations
  • require that instructors who are licensed in their state only provide continuing education training
  • require that student be self-directed in pursuing continuing education credit; providers and courses not pre-approved

* E-Hazard has pursued approval - and received same -- as a provider in those states who require licensing and continuing education credit.  

 

Specific class approvals for continuing education credit for electricians:

  • 'Low Voltage Qualified NFPA 70E / Electrical Workplace Safety'
    • Instructor-led:   AK, DE, FL, ID, KY, LA, MT, NC, NE, NJ, NM, OH, OR, SD, TX, UT, WA, WI, and WY
    • Video: AK, LA
    • Online: AK, LA
  • 'High Voltage Qualified'
    • Instructor-led: KY, MT, WA.

** While every effort is made to ensure that the information regarding state licensure is current, e-Hazard makes no guarantee of the accuracy or completeness of the data. It is the responsibility of each individual to investigate their Licensing Board's requirements to ensure compliance.

 

Check with our office for credit hours awarded or any additional details or requests.

 

Terri Wettle / Administrative Assistant

 

Burn Up The Myth 

Question: Is training enough to get workers to work safely?

 

Answer: I think the real question is, "What is Safety Training?"

 

For some companies it is a class, but if you look at standards like NFPA 70E and ANSI Z10 you get a different picture. Training is part of making a worker "qualified" and this could be a class. However, in the best companies with the best safety records, safety is more than training and training is more than classes.

 

Is training enough? No. A recent article looked at a study I had read about years ago that was fascinating. In rural areas of Bangladesh, cholera is a huge killer of the population. The poor there do not have purified water and collect it from pools or rivers which contain the contagion. Many of the rural women would filter their water through their sari (dress) but this would not eliminate any of the cholera contagion. Researchers found that if they washed an old sari to plump up the fibers and folded it in four it would strain out 99% of the cholera contagion.

 

They trained several villages of women to do this simple task and the cholera dropped in those villages with just this one behavior change.

 

I first read about this right after the study was published in a scientific magazine I subscribe to. I was impressed with the simple safety approach.

 

I was saddened to read last week in the New York Times that the researchers returned to the same villages and cholera, while it was still less, had returned in full force. Why? None of the women who had been trained used 4 layers of sari to filter the water, and most used none.

 

It takes MORE than just training. Next month's column, we will take a look at what the "more" is.

ArcWear™ Arc Testing Dates
2011  
  
Oct 11-16 
Nov 7-11 
Dec 12-16  

ASTM F1959, ASTM F2178, ASTM F887 fall protection arc testing and mannequin testing are scheduled at the Kinectrics Lab in Toronto on the dates above.  

Ship materials or clothing to:   
Hugh Hoagland
ArcWear.com
13113 Eastpoint Park Blvd.
Suite E
Louisville, KY
40223
PH: 502-333-0510
arctesting@ArcWear.com 
  
We must receive one week before the test date for sample preparation or make arrangements to ship to lab. New and non US/Canadian Customers must make payment before test date.  Testing is offered on a first come/first served basis with priority for consulting customers. 
  
New policies:
  • $100 per material for prep/washing and cutting panels ($200 for items arriving less than 7 days before test date to cover preparation overtime)
  • $200 for the initial international hard copy report shipping or notarization requests. Each report after is $50.00.

  

No guarantee is made of when testing will occur; we do all in our power to test within one month of receipt.  
All ArcWear.com testing is performed at Kinectrics High Current lab in Toronto, Canada.  Kinectrics is an ISO 17025 accredited lab by the Standards Council of Canada.

Electrical Safety News 


10-01-2011 10:18:23 AM

The lawsuit, filed by a BPU engineer who has been suspended without pay, alleges "significant safety issues" and cites "arc flash" several times in the complaint.  In the last 16 months, there have been two arc flash incidences involving transmission and distribution workers at BPU. Critical burns were suffered by three electricians in last year's [...]...�

 

10-01-2011 10:18:23 AM

The two men, who were working for a geotechnical drilling company, where using a penetrometer to test soil density when the penetrometer came into contact with a 6600-volt cable what was buried about 60cm below the surface. One employee suffered burns to his legs and up his front and  the more seriously injured man received burns to ~10% [...]...�

 

10-01-2011 10:18:23 AM

The employee was working as a subcontractor at a construction site when the incident occurred.    The explosion was caused when a main electrical supply cable to the site was cut during its removal.  A 415 volt three-phase temporary supply had been provided to the site. The Court heard that the worker approached his supervisor to explain that the electrical [...]...�

 

10-01-2011 10:18:23 AM

A firm in the UK was ordered by the Health and Safety Executive to pay �30,000 after two workers were burned in an electrical incident.  The workers were electrocuted while working on a dockside crane.  A maintenance worker was asked to investigate a power failure on the crane even though he was not a trained [...]...�

10-01-2011 10:18:23 AM

Two electrical incidents in different areas of Alberta resulted in the deaths of two electrical workers. One was killed while installing cables near Ft. McMurray.  The second occurred in Southwest Alberta while working on a power transmission project. Alberta's Occupational Health and Safety department says a 34-year-old electrical foreman died yesterday morning while installing cables [...]...�

 

10-01-2011 10:18:23 AM

A Jamestown, NY Utility worker was critically injured while working in an underground vault to restore a power outage.  He was badly burned during an arc flash, receiving burns to his hands, face and upper chest.  He was transported to the hospital and listed in critical condition. Click here to read more about Arc Flash [...]...�

 

10-01-2011 10:18:23 AM

OSHA has issued an  alert, warning  of the dangers of using certain Eaton/Cutler-Hammer molded-case circuit breakers that were incorrectly rebuilt. The circuit breakers (model numbers E�K and E�KM) may have been altered by the third-party re-builder by using incorrect parts that can cause the circuit breakers to malfunction. The breakers were originally manufactured by Eaton/Cutler-Hammer as [...]...�

 

10-01-2011 10:17:25 AM

OSHA identified 11 serious violations with  $33,660 in fines that involvd failing to develop lockout/tagout procedures to prevent accidental startup duirng maintenance, provide locks or suitable hardware for the lockout/tagout process, and among others. and Violations also include several electrical hazards, such as damaged equipment, exposed live parts, uncovered openings in cabinets and boxes, and [...]...�

 

10-01-2011 10:17:25 AM

OSHA inspectors identified deficiencies in the hazardous energy control program.  This program involves powering down and locking out machines' power sources to prevent their unintended start up during maintenance.  Lockout procedures were not developed for tasks that resulted in recordable worker injuries, all lockout procedures were not inspected periodically and employees were not trained on lockout procedures. [...]...�

 

10-01-2011 10:15:01 AM

OSHA found one repeat, and 13 serious and two other-than-serious safety violations for exposing workers to a variety of grain hazards during bulk birdseed handling and packaging operations. The repeat violation involved improper electrical wiring.  Proposed penalties total $62,100. Click here to read about OSHA fines in Colorado Facility...�

 
Our newsletter is sponsored by many companies around the world.  If you have ideas for articles or have questions, don't hesitate to write.

 

Sincerely,

Hugh Hoagland
ArcWear.com
13113 Eastpoint Park Blvd. Suite E
Louisville, KY 40223
Office: 502-333-0510