MAINTENANCE CORNER

B y K e r ry H e i d,
A.Sc.T

Magna Electric
Corporation

Survey Says!

Maintenance is Critical as Part of your

Electrical Safety Program.
When 10.5 percent of electrical equipment doesnt operate, it is not hard to understand why it is
widely touted that electrical maintenance of power distribution equipment is paramount to worker
safety. This includes the correct operation of virtually any device such as relaying protection, fuses,
and circuit breakers that are required to operate during a fault condition. These devices are required
to operate according to their time-current characteristic curves to ensure that a calculated arc-flash
hazard analysis is valid. Even a slight variation between theoretical and actual operating characteristics
can mean a drastic change in incident energy levels.
NFPA 70 E Lang ua g e
205.3 Equipment Maintenance. Electrical equipment shall be maintained in accordance with
manufacturers instructions or industry consensus standards to reduce the risk of failure and the
subsequent exposure of employees to electrical hazards. [ROC 70E-293]

ROC 70E-293 This language is from the comment

stage of the current NFPA 70E revision cycle.
2008 Survey
A 2008 survey was conducted by NETA on the performance of electrical protective devices.
A national survey of field performance on approximately 340,000 protective devices was reviewed,
and the results of those findings are quite alarming. Understanding these key areas of performance, the
dilemma it creates with arc-flash incident energy exposures, and the overall impact of the performance
to personnel will help the owners and users of the electrical equipment provide a safer workplace.
Based on the results of the survey, approximately 23 percent of the circuit breakers tested had an
issue affecting the protective device operation. This data closely correlates with failure data presented
in IEEE Std. 493-2007, Table 5-1 in the fair (18.1%) to poor (32.8%) maintenance quality category.
With percentages in these ranges, approximately one in four of the devices in the field will not operate
as indicated on the time current curves. The impact to personnel in the field is that in most cases
incident energies will significantly increase due to the defective equipment.
Another alarming statistic was the fact that on average 10.5 percent of the devices did not function
at all when tested. This means that when overload or short circuit current is applied to the device, it
was found to be inoperable. If a fault were to occur, it would severely impact personnel safety when
working on or near that particular piece of equipment. Of the units with issues affecting performance,
42.8 percent were mechanical issues, and 26.7 percent had issues related to electrical diagnostic
testing. Lubrication issues were the predominant mechanical failure at 51.4 percent. This has been a
long-standing problem within industry and is often vetted during preventive maintenance operations.

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Survey Says! Maintenance is Critical as Part of your Electrical Safety Program.

MAINTENANCE CORNER

Figure 1 shows a circuit breaker that would not operate due to mechanical problems. This breaker
could not be opened even with major force to the tripping mechanism. Due to these problems, this
device would not have operated during any short circuit, overload, or ground fault. Any downstream
equipment would be subjected to possible meltdown and personnel would be exposed to large values
of incident energy. Units in this condition are commonly found during maintenance testing and either
replaced or repaired immediately.

Figure 1:
Example Circuit
Breaker Mechanically
Inoperable, Found
in Service

2 011 S urv ey
NETA continues its research into this topic and will be presenting a paper at the IEEE PCIC in Toronto
in September this year. Further data on root cause of failures including operating environments,
duty cycle, and other contributing factors will be reviewed. NETA is expecting to create a test sheet
program to facilitate the process of collecting and disseminating information directly from work
performed in the field by NETA Accredited Companies. This will allow for actual data from the field
to be interpreted over a wide range of operating environments.

Survey Says! Maintenance is Critical as Part of your Electrical Safety Program.

NETAWORLD

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MAINTENANCE CORNER
Mai ntenan c e C r i t i ca li t y and Impa c t t o Pe r so nne l
Proper performance of electrical power equipment is paramount if calculated values of incident
energies are to be accurate. The results of the findings illustrate that adequate personnel protection
cannot be achieved and accurate PPE assessment cannot be performed without accurate and reliable
data including the probability of correctly functioning protective devices.
If protective equipment does not function as designed or intended, the results can be disastrous.
The results of engineering studies for protective device clearing times as well as safety-related data
such as arc-flash studies can become invalid as clearing times become an unknown element. It is
common for facilities to perform an arc-flash hazard analysis using commercially produced software
that relies on the published trip times of the protective devices. When possible, the existing protective
device settings are modified to decrease incident energies and hazard labels are applied to indicate
the circuit parameters. If electrical protective devices do not function as designed, the arc-flash
study is not valid and severe increases in incident energies can be obtained which could render the
PPE assessment inadequate.
Determining risk categories and PPE requirements using the tables in NFPA 70E / CSA Z462 assume
that the equipment is actually functioning. Pay close attention to the footnotes in the tables and the
specific reference to clearing times. The condition of the equipment and the latest test or calibration
records should be considered when determining the risk category and performing the overall hazard
risk assessment.
C

C on clu sio ns
Electrical devices must be regularly maintained according to the latest available standards. Field test
data shows that lack of or improper maintenance severely affects protective device operation, thus
affecting the overall arc-flash data. Risk categories determined by using the 70E / Z462 task tables to
perform arc-flash studies, calculate incident energy, and assess PPE requirements become invalid with
improper operation of protective devices. Schedule a maintenance testing shutdown today, and hire a
NETA Accredited Company to perform critical testing work.

CM

MY

CY

CMY

Kerry Heid is the President of Magna Electric Corporation, a Canadian based electrical
projects group providing NETA certified testing and related products and solutions
for electrical power distribution systems. Kerry is a past President of NETA and has
been serving on its board of directors since 2002. Kerry is chair of NETAs training
committee and its marketing committee. Kerry was awarded NETAs 2010 Outstanding
Achievement Award for his contributions to the association and is a NETA senior
certified test technician level IV.
Kerry is the chair of CSA Z463 Technical committee on Maintenance of Electrical
Systems. He is also a member of the executive on the CSA Z462 technical committee
for Workplace Electrical Safety in Canada and is chair of working group 6 on safety
related maintenance requirements as well as a member of the NFPA 70E CSA Z462
harmonization working group.

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SUMMER 2011

Survey Says! Maintenance is Critical as Part of your Electrical Safety Program.