# Arc Flash Incident



## sparky970 (Mar 19, 2008)

Just a reminder to know your lockout points and ask questions. An incident involving another electrical contractor occurred today at one of the paper mills where we are working. Unsure of all the details, as of yet, but it was a bad lock out and some 13.8KV was energized from a back feed. Sounds like 2 people were airlifted, one person was lit up and badly burned and at least 2 others had severe burns. Total of 4 people involved. Thoughts to them and their families. I'll have more details in the next day or so.


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## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

Condolenses to the injured....

Wasn't this whole paper mill deal was shut down for negotiations Spark? ~CS~


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## sparky970 (Mar 19, 2008)

chicken steve said:


> Condolenses to the injured....
> 
> Wasn't this whole paper mill deal was shut down for negotiations Spark? ~CS~


This is at a different mill. We work at at least 10 different paper mills over here.


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## erics37 (May 7, 2009)

sparky970 said:


> Just a reminder to know your lockout points and ask questions. An incident involving another electrical contractor occurred today at one of the paper mills where we are working. Unsure of all the details, as of yet, but it was a bad lock out and some 13.8KV was energized from a back feed. Sounds like 2 people were airlifted, one person was lit up and badly burned and at least 2 others had severe burns. Total of 4 people involved. Thoughts to them and their families. I'll have more details in the next day or so.


Heard about this. Serious bummer. Here is a brief news story (not very informative):

http://www.newslincolncounty.com/archives/133792


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## sparky970 (Mar 19, 2008)

erics37 said:


> Heard about this. Serious bummer. Here is a brief news story (not very informative):
> 
> http://www.newslincolncounty.com/archives/133792


Were any of your guys around when it happened? I work around some Olsson guys here in town. I'll see them tomorrow and see how their guys are doing. Hopefully they recover. Some scary crap.


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## 360max (Jun 10, 2011)

...its nice to see all construction trades unite when someone gets hurt/killed. 
Our job had a mechanical guy die as an air handling unit toppled on him when it was being craned into building on 3rd floor, unit was massive, God rest his soul


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## eejack (Jul 14, 2012)

360max said:


> ...its nice to see all construction trades unite when someone gets hurt/killed.
> Our job had a mechanical guy die as an air handling unit toppled on him when it was being craned into building on 3rd floor, unit was massive, God rest his soul


Was that the global foundries job? I had a bunch of friends working there when some poor fellow got killed. Never get in the line of fire or get under the load.

I hope the fellows in the OP are okay. The traded seems to get safer and more dangerous every day.


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## JW Splicer (Mar 15, 2014)

Always test for zero volts with proper meter and PPE and then ground! Hope they are ok!


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## LARMGUY (Aug 22, 2010)

360max said:


> ...its nice to see all construction trades unite when someone gets hurt/killed.
> Our job had a mechanical guy die as an air handling unit toppled on him when it was being craned into building on 3rd floor, unit was massive, God rest his soul


Not to seem insensitive but I'm curious. Improper rigging? Straps? Chains? Did a sheave slip? I like to add these little facts to the back of my mind when I see an operation such as this going on.


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## erics37 (May 7, 2009)

sparky970 said:


> Were any of your guys around when it happened? I work around some Olsson guys here in town. I'll see them tomorrow and see how their guys are doing. Hopefully they recover. Some scary crap.


I guess it happened in the Main Sub. Our guys are working elsewhere onsite. We've got a 24-hour crew there right now though so word spread fast. We're starting a collection I think.


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## eric7379 (Jan 5, 2010)

sparky970 said:


> Just a reminder to know your lockout points and ask questions. An incident involving another electrical contractor occurred today at one of the paper mills where we are working. Unsure of all the details, as of yet, but it was a bad lock out and some 13.8KV was energized from a back feed. Sounds like 2 people were airlifted, one person was lit up and badly burned and at least 2 others had severe burns. Total of 4 people involved. Thoughts to them and their families. I'll have more details in the next day or so.


Aw, man, that sucks.  My thoughts are with them and their families and I wish them a speedy recovery.


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## eric7379 (Jan 5, 2010)

erics37 said:


> I guess it happened in the Main Sub. Our guys are working elsewhere onsite. We've got a 24-hour crew there right now though so word spread fast. We're starting a collection I think.


Maybe you guys could start a fundraising effort for them through www.gofundme.com? 

I would gladly donate. This would be a great way to get as much coverage as possible.


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## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

It's distressing to read these incidents happening.

I just can't help wondering why, one would think there's a _higher_ level of safety addressing _higher _voltages?

perhaps a lame Q from a resi-sparky, but the only folks i watch working anything near this are poco linemen _(whom i've learned much from over the years)_


~CS~


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## Zog (Apr 15, 2009)

Horrible, seen too much of this in my lifetime, prayers to the injured and their families.

If it isn't grounded it isn't dead...


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## Cl906um (Jul 21, 2012)

We had a man die less than ten years ago. Hi volt ticker was five steps away. Power company said it was dead. He slap sticked the live 13.8 live to get rid of what he thought was the static. Very sad when it happens close to home, or anywhere for that matter. Five minutes of testing would have saved his life. OSHAs investigation proved the ticker worked as well. Not sure that their investigation hurt his family benefits. I am sure they would be better off if he was still around. Never trust anyone with your life...


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## sparky970 (Mar 19, 2008)

Just a quick update. The 3 guys involved have all been released from the hospital and will make full recoveries. The guy that was airlifted, fortunately, was not as severely burned as first thought. OSHA is still investigating, but since there were a few people injured, they have categorized it as a catastrophic accident. I won't comment on the events that led to the injuries, as the investigation is still ongoing, but it appears that there were several things that occurred leading up to the incident. There was direct contact with 13.8kv that entered the hand and exited the elbow, on the same side of the body. I'm just glad everyone will be okay and hope it is used as a learning experience for everyone involved.


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## five.five-six (Apr 9, 2013)

Zog said:


> Horrible, seen too much of this in my lifetime, prayers to the injured and their families.
> 
> If it isn't grounded it isn't dead...


I have never worked intermediate or high voltage, im assuming that's what this is referring to?


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## Zog (Apr 15, 2009)

Yes, anything >600V has to have personal protective grounds installed before working on them. Designed to prevent this type of accident (Or so I assume from the limited info we have so far)


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

chicken steve said:


> It's distressing to read these incidents happening.
> 
> I just can't help wondering why, one would think there's a _higher_ level of safety addressing _higher _voltages?
> 
> ...


What often happens on something like this is that they do all the proper LO/TO test-verify-test procedures, but AFTER they are inside of the gear, someone somewhere else turns on a breaker that has an incorrect LV circuit that creates a back-feed through a transformer or something, and it lights up the load side of the gear they are working on. Even a little bit of 13.8kV can do a lot of damage. Happened to me, only at 480V, so I didn't get seriously injured. It was a 120V control circuit that originated in my panel, but went into another, and someone working on the other panel connected their 120V CPT into it. So when they closed their main breaker on that panel while I was in mine, it back-fed my CPT and put 480V on two phases of the LOAD side of my main disconnect. I happened to be touching a breaker terminal at the time...

That's why Zog said that about grounding. A lot of places require workers who are working on MV and HV equipment to attach safety grounding straps to the isolated sides of the switches, just in case. If the straps are in place and someone somewhere else creates a back feed, it goes immediately to ground and clears THEIR OCPD to stop the fault. But I've seen places where they don't do it. When I asked at one mill, they said it was because people kept forgetting to remove them and it blew up the gear, so they were told not to do it any more, to test instead. I of course have that direct experience to know that isn't good enough. When the details come out, I'd be willing to bet there were no safety grounding straps and if that turns out to be a conscious decision from Mgmt, there will be hell to pay.


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## erics37 (May 7, 2009)

JRaef said:


> What often happens on something like this is that they do all the proper LO/TO test-verify-test procedures, but AFTER they are inside of the gear, someone somewhere else turns on a breaker that has an incorrect LV circuit that creates a back-feed through a transformer or something, and it lights up the load side of the gear they are working on. Even a little bit of 13.8kV can do a lot of damage. Happened to me, only at 480V, so I didn't get seriously injured. It was a 120V control circuit that originated in my panel, but went into another, and someone working on the other panel connected their 120V CPT into it. So when they closed their main breaker on that panel while I was in mine, it back-fed my CPT and put 480V on two phases of the LOAD side of my main disconnect. I happened to be touching a breaker terminal at the time...
> 
> That's why Zog said that about grounding. A lot of places require workers who are working on MV and HV equipment to attach safety grounding straps to the isolated sides of the switches, just in case. If the straps are in place and someone somewhere else creates a back feed, it goes immediately to ground and clears THEIR OCPD to stop the fault. But I've seen places where they don't do it. When I asked at one mill, they said it was because people kept forgetting to remove them and it blew up the gear, so they were told not to do it any more, to test instead. I of course have that direct experience to know that isn't good enough. When the details come out, I'd be willing to bet there were no safety grounding straps and if that turns out to be a conscious decision from Mgmt, there will be hell to pay.


In this case I imagine the mill's safety policy was violated but the contractor may very well didn't have any sort of policy for MV work. My suspicion.


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## sparky970 (Mar 19, 2008)

Utility feed for this 13.8kv was missed on the LO/TO. Guys had been working in gear for a few days and were just finishing up. This tells me that they certainly did not test and did not install grounds. Hard to believe nobody got killed. Although it's likely someone will be fired. I have never worked 13.8 gear without testing or grounds. I don't understand, at all. I don't know what this contractors safety policies are, or if they were followed. This should have never happened.


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## erics37 (May 7, 2009)

sparky970 said:


> Utility feed for this 13.8kv was missed on the LO/TO. Guys had been working in gear for a few days and were just finishing up. This tells me that they certainly did not test and did not install grounds. Hard to believe nobody got killed. Although it's likely someone will be fired. I have never worked 13.8 gear without testing or grounds. I don't understand, at all. I don't know what this contractors safety policies are, or if they were followed. This should have never happened.


That contractor has been around that site since way before I started out there in 2005 and it's always been pretty shoddy work from them.

They may be our competition but no one deserves to get injured or nearly killed on the job. I hope this is an isolated incident from them and not a manifestation of systemic safety violations. If I were working on 13.8 gear I'd be double checking those locks every 2 hours out of paranoia alone. I've installed cable tray in that main sub and was nervous enough simply being in the same room.


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## sparky970 (Mar 19, 2008)

erics37 said:


> That contractor has been around that site since way before I started out there in 2005 and it's always been pretty shoddy work from them.
> 
> They may be our competition but no one deserves to get injured or nearly killed on the job. I hope this is an isolated incident from them and not a manifestation of systemic safety violations. If I were working on 13.8 gear I'd be double checking those locks every 2 hours out of paranoia alone. I've installed cable tray in that main sub and was nervous enough simply being in the same room.


I witnessed them doing unsafe work up here quite a bit. They had a guy working in a lighting panel with no gear on at all. I stopped and reminded him he need to wear ppe. He said he didn't have to because is was class 0. I agrued for a minute and he just went back to work. I got the mill safety involved and he put on his gear, only to take it off 5 minutes later. We had an engineer complain about us taking too long to do a lockout and wanted to know why we wear all the ppe just to verify voltage in an MCC and they don't. I copied a few pages from 70e and explained it to him. He had a different attitude after that. Although it didn't change anything. Different rules for different people.


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

sparky970 said:


> Just a reminder to know your lockout points and ask questions. An incident involving another electrical contractor occurred today at one of the paper mills where we are working. Unsure of all the details, as of yet, but it was a bad lock out and some 13.8KV was energized from a back feed. Sounds like 2 people were airlifted, one person was lit up and badly burned and at least 2 others had severe burns. Total of 4 people involved. Thoughts to them and their families. I'll have more details in the next day or so.


In cabinet cleanout detail at Ford we deenergize adjacent feeds to "hopefully" eliminate parallel inductive possibilities.


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