Electrical hazard prevention program at a water and wastewater utility

Maintenance and operations personnel working in close proximity to the electrical power distribution equipment in the water and wastewater facilities may be subject to arc flash events that can cause injury to staff and disruption of water and wastewater services to the public. The current safety standard for the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) which is the Required Safety Practice (RSP) 1800 references the latest edition of NFPA 70E [1] for electrical safety. The NFPA 70E standard together with IEEE 1584 [2] includes methods for assessing and evaluating arc flash risks in the workplace, and has specific requirements for making risk assessments and selecting control measures (e.g., equipment labeling, 2 seconds vs. 1000 seconds rule, PPE, installation of remote racking devices, adjusting breaker settings, etc.). This paper will discuss the history, affected facilities, budget, resources, task sequence, NFPA 70E recommendations, techniques used in selecting control measures, challenges, and the status of this multi-million dollar electrical hazard prevention program that was started in 2004 at EBMUD.