NFAP 70E Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace, provides guidelines for making hazard identification and risk assessments, selecting PPE, and establishing safe work practices.
Three important changes in the NFPA 70E 2015 code include:
- Clarification of Labeling Requirements
- Elimination of HRC0
- New Arc Flash PPE Tables
Labeling Requirements: NFPA 70e 2015 code Article 130.5 (D) has been updated to specify the type of equipment that must be labeled: “Electrical equipment such as switchboards, panelboards, industrial control panels, meter socket enclosures, and motor control centers that are in other than dwelling units and that are likely to require examination, adjustment, servicing, or maintenance while energized shall be field-marked with a label containing all of the following information:
- Nominal system voltage
- Arc-flash boundary
- At least one of the following:
- Either the available incident energy with the corresponding working distance or the arc flash PPE category in Table 130.7(C)(15)(A)(b) or Table 130.7(C)(15)(B) shall be listed but not both.
- Minimum arc rating of clothing.
- Site-specific level of PPE.
Exception: Labels applied prior to September 30, 2011 are acceptable if they contain the available incident energy or required level of PPE.”
Elimination of HRC0: New PPE tables contain recommendations for protection when working within the Arc Flash Boundary. According to NFPA 70 E Standard “Hazard/risk category will now be referred to as PPE category. Hazard/risk category 0 was deleted because the new PPE table only specified PPE for work within the arc flash boundary. If there is no arc flash hazard, then no arc flash PPE is required and it is therefore not necessary on a table devoted to PPE”
New Arc Flash PPE Tables:The NFPA 70E 2015 Standard contains a new format for choosing arc-rating clothing and PPE. This new version breaks Table 130.7(C)(15)(A) into two tables. The first table, Table 130.7(C)(15)(A)(a) determines whether an Arc Flash hazard exists based on the Task and Equipment Condition. Then, the subsequent Table 130.7(C)(A)(b) contains only those activities that pose an arc flash hazard and assigns their corresponding Arc Flash PPE Category.
