New Arc Regulations

[mrgrowl791]

How much does everybody think these new regs are going to affect dist. and trans. line work. (substations also)

Also, how are different companies handling this?

[Koga]

are you asking about ?

Koga

[JAKE]

i think hes talkin about the heavier clothin osha wants us to be wearin. if you ask me we wont get anything done in the summer wearin that heavy crap,

im waiting for the fireproof bucket bubbles to come out.

or even better yet the lineman robot ya can run from the ground!!

[mrgrowl791]

i think hes talkin about the heavier clothin osha wants us to be wearin. if you ask me we wont get anything done in the summer wearin that heavy crap,

im waiting for the fireproof bucket bubbles to come out.

or even better yet the lineman robot ya can run from the ground!!

That's part of it. We have some 7200, but have and are converting to 14.4. Seems like I heard someone say that the 100% cotton jeans we are allowed to waer now will have to be flame retardtant.

[Koga]

We have been wearing the flame retardent shirts for a while now. We have a choice between several different styles and fabrics including 100% cotton which is what I wear. Also unless they have changed it the 100% cotton 16 ounce jeans ,which covers most brands , are ok . Which is what 95% of our guys wear. But if OSHA is sticking its fingers in it that could/will change. Havent seen any new proposed changes yet.

Koga

[duckhunter]

I think you will see a lot of work planned differently than before. Remember, the fr is only needed when the work is hot. If you can change feeds or do it cold, I think that will become more of an option that gloving everything. The biggest thing that bugs me about the fr issue is that is the catcher for the screw-up. The arc-flash is only there when things go wrong, usually by bad choices. Now everyone will have to spend big dollars to try to cover for something that will not happen to the overwhelming majority of linemen.

[thrasher]

There are two seperate issues about arc-flash.
#1: 2007 NESC requires an arc-flash hazard assessment to be done by January 1, 2009 and "appropriate clothing" must be worn. NESC section 41 item A-3. There is an out in these regulations for hot weather if you read exception 1 under this section. Also the values in the table don't all correspond to the values their formula gives so there are problems with the tables.
#2 Since June 2005 OSHA has been looking at and publishing for comment a series of PROPOSED changes to 1910.269 including some type of arc-flash assessment. HOWEVER nothing FINAL has been published, so we don't know which way OSHA will actually go. There are volumes of comments both ways about this issue.