I received a call recently from a large electric utility. A line worker, we'll call him Bill, had been badly burned while performing work near a 69kV piece of equipment. This incident illustrates ...

For Samy Faried, an ABB expert who has spent 15 years analyzing arc flash hazards, a new rule recently finalized by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will save lives. In April ...

With several NFPA standards to be presented for action in June at the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) summer meeting, let’s analyze some proposed amendments to the 2026 National Electrical ...

Two-thirds of workers injured by arc flash did not conduct an arc flash analysis, according to the “Occupational Injuries from Electrical Shock and Arc Flash Events” study published by the National ...

Arc flash incidents cause 80 percent of the electrical injuries to electrical professionals that occur in the United States each year. Over 2,000 workers each year are injured or killed by arc flash.

Arc flash is defined as an explosive release of energy caused by an electrical arc. Typically, the arc results from either a phase-to-ground or phase-to-phase fault created by many possible events.

Assumptions and complacency are two of safety’s worst enemies. If the following story hits uncomfortably close to home for you, it will have served its purpose. In January 1993, two employees were ...