An electrical hazard analysis identifies dangers that are present in an electrical system. This starts at the building’s electrical service and continues through the electrical distribution system to the building loads, including panelboards, motors, safety switches, etc. This analysis should identify electrocution (shock) hazards, arc flash (burn) hazards and arc blast (pressure & shrapnel) hazards.
There are three types of electrical hazards:
A facility owner is required to provide a safe workplace. An electrical hazard analysis is required for systems that will be inspected, serviced or modified while operating at 50 volts or greater. This is common in hospitals, data centers and industrial facilities that operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
This means if equipment cannot be de-energized during inspections and servicing, an electrical hazard analysis must have been performed and arc flash information shall be field marked on the equipment. If equipment can be de-energized the hazard analysis is not required; however, the owner must provide the information necessary to assess the risk. This information would include a short circuit analysis as well as breaker/fuse information needed to evaluate the time required for a fault to clear. This can typically be field gathered by the contractor; however, it may be necessary to de-energize equipment to inspect breakers and fuses to gather this information which can mean undesired outages.