The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) published the latest edition of the NFPA 70E Standard (Standard for Electrical Safety Requirements for Employee Workplaces) in February of 2000. The revised version now requires employees to wear flame resistant (FR) protective clothing that meets the requirements of ASTM F1506 wherever there is possible exposure to an electric arc flash. It requires employers to perform a flash Hazard Risk Analysis to determine the flash protection boundary distance. The standard is designed to protect employees working inside these flash protection boundaries by requiring protective clothing for the corresponding Hazard/Risk Category that has an arc thermal performance value (ATPV) of at least the value listed in the "Protective Clothing Characteristics" section of the standard. The vast majority of major companies in the U.S. have some employees that work on or near energized electrical conductors or circuit parts. In addition, the Department of Energy has required that federal and contractor employees comply with NFPA 70E and the 2002 National Electric Code (NEC) references the NFPA 70E standard. Finally, OSHA considers the NFPA 70E standard a "recognized industry practice."
A local, national and global trend has been toward Using Annex H for compliance to NFPA 70E by implementing everyday uniform programs. Using INDURA Ultra Soft garments that meet the requirements of NFPA 70E Hazard Risk Categories (HRC) 0, 1 and 2 as a single-layer (chart listed below). This can alleviate employer concerns about leaving the difficult decision of determining whether a specific routine electrical task is HRC 0, 1 or 2 in the hands of the employee. It can also eliminate the need for employers to police a program that requires workers to wear natural fiber, long-undergarments to meet the requirements of HRC 2. Please refer to NFPA 70E Annex H Simplified; Two Category, Flame Resistant (FR) Clothing Approach. To supplement everyday uniforms, arc flash suits and hoods in double-layer INDURA Ultra Soft combinations are available for higher energy HRC 3 & 4 level tasks.
