INSIGHTS
The recency of the changes to the IEEE 1584-2018 limited our findings as publicly available information of businesses that have benefited from the recent changes to the standard is not available.
The previous version of IEEE 1584-2018 was based on only 300 arc flash tests while IEEE 1584-2018 was based on around 2,000 more arc flash tests.
IEEE 1584-2018 was board approved on 09.27.2018 and published on 11.30.2018.
Because the IEEE 1584-2018 standard is very new, we were not able to find publicly available information on businesses that have already benefited from the standard. However, from our findings, it is expected that contractors and facility owners will benefit from the changes to the standard because they will be able to exhaustively analyze power systems to calculate the incident energy that employees could be exposed to during operations and maintenance procedures. This analysis will allow contractors and facility owners to provide the appropriate protection to employees in accordance with the requirements of the applicable electrical workplace safety standards.
In order to identify examples of businesses that have benefited from the recent changes to IEEE 1584-2018, we acquainted ourselves with the main changes that were introduced by the recent update to the standard. We did this by going through articles in websites which are related to the electrical safety industry that included Creative Safety Supply, and Brainfiller. We also went through information on the IEEE Standards Association website for the same purpose. By reviewing the available information on IEEE 1584-2018, we noticed that the changes to the standard are very new because they were approved on 09.27.2018 and published on 11.30.2018.
Next, we focused our research on looking for information on businesses that are using the new standard and benefiting from it as a result. However, this strategy did not yield any relevant information. We noted that this may be due to the recency of approval and publication of IEEE 1584-2018 as approval was around 4 months ago and publication was only 2 months ago. Therefore, information on businesses that have benefited from the recent changes to the standard by protecting themselves from the risk of arc flash incidents in the workplace is not yet available in the public domain.
Finally, we decided to focus our research on the potential benefits businesses can expect from the recent changes to IEEE 1584-2018. With this research angle, we discovered that contractors and facility owners should benefit from IEEE 1584-2018 because it ensures better electrical workplace safety for employees. All our findings follow below.
The recency of the changes to the IEEE 1584-2018 limited our findings as publicly available information of businesses that have benefited from the recent changes to the standard is not available.
The previous version of IEEE 1584-2018 was based on only 300 arc flash tests while IEEE 1584-2018 was based on around 2,000 more arc flash tests.
IEEE 1584-2018 was board approved on 09.27.2018 and published on 11.30.2018.
Because the IEEE 1584-2018 standard is very new, we were not able to find publicly available information on businesses that have already benefited from the standard. However, from our findings, it is expected that contractors and facility owners will benefit from the changes to the standard because they will be able to exhaustively analyze power systems to calculate the incident energy that employees could be exposed to during operations and maintenance procedures. This analysis will allow contractors and facility owners to provide the appropriate protection to employees in accordance with the requirements of the applicable electrical workplace safety standards.In order to identify examples of businesses that have benefited from the recent changes to IEEE 1584-2018, we acquainted ourselves with the main changes that were introduced by the recent update to the standard. We did this by going through articles in websites which are related to the electrical safety industry that included Creative Safety Supply, and Brainfiller. We also went through information on the IEEE Standards Association website for the same purpose. By reviewing the available information on IEEE 1584-2018, we noticed that the changes to the standard are very new because they were approved on 09.27.2018 and published on 11.30.2018.
Next, we focused our research on looking for information on businesses that are using the new standard and benefiting from it as a result. However, this strategy did not yield any relevant information. We noted that this may be due to the recency of approval and publication of IEEE 1584-2018 as approval was around 4 months ago and publication was only 2 months ago. Therefore, information on businesses that have benefited from the recent changes to the standard by protecting themselves from the risk of arc flash incidents in the workplace is not yet available in the public domain.Finally, we decided to focus our research on the potential benefits businesses can expect from the recent changes to IEEE 1584-2018. With this research angle, we discovered that contractors and facility owners should benefit from IEEE 1584-2018 because it ensures better electrical workplace safety for employees. All our findings follow below.
INFORMATION AND CHANGES TO THE STANDARD
The IEEE 1584-2018 standard was approved by the board on 09.27.2018 and published on 11.30.2018. The updates to the standard included changes to voltage range, range of bolted short circuit current, conductor gap, working distance, and changes in electrode/bus configuration.
In contrast to the previous standard which was based on 300 arc flash tests, the IEEE 1584-2018 standard is based on almost 2,000 additional arc flash tests that span a wide range of voltages, configurations, and parameters.
The IEEE 1584-2018 standard was approved by the board on 09.27.2018 and published on 11.30.2018. The updates to the standard included changes to voltage range, range of bolted short circuit current, conductor gap, working distance, and changes in electrode/bus configuration.
In contrast to the previous standard which was based on 300 arc flash tests, the IEEE 1584-2018 standard is based on almost 2,000 additional arc flash tests that span a wide range of voltages, configurations, and parameters.
HOW CHANGES TO STANDARD MAY AFFECT BUSINESSES
Previously, IEEE tests were done only by vertical electrodes but now they can also be done using horizontal configurations. The new standard, i.e. IEEE 1584-2018 supports the use of software such as ETAP, SKM, and EasyPower in doing tests and equipment configuration that best suite equipment modelling "either in vertical or horizontal orientation and in a box or open air." This is important because horizontal configurations could have up to 330% greater incident energy levels than originally expected.
The associated costs of an arc flash study are going to go up regardless of whether it’s done in-house or contracted out. In addition, the updated standard will also "require better data being put in the front end and that means more time in the field for engineers."
The IEEE 1584-2018 standard is also more complex with many variations to equipment configuration that will result in longer data input time and analysis of the worst case scenario.
It is expected that “contractors and facility owners will benefit from IEEE 1584-2018 by being able to more thoroughly analyze power systems to calculate the incident energy to which employees could be exposed during operations and maintenance work, allowing them to provide appropriate protection for employees in accordance with the requirements of applicable electrical workplace safety standards.”
Previously, IEEE tests were done only by vertical electrodes but now they can also be done using horizontal configurations. The new standard, i.e. IEEE 1584-2018 supports the use of software such as ETAP, SKM, and EasyPower in doing tests and equipment configuration that best suite equipment modelling "either in vertical or horizontal orientation and in a box or open air." This is important because horizontal configurations could have up to 330% greater incident energy levels than originally expected.
The associated costs of an arc flash study are going to go up regardless of whether it’s done in-house or contracted out. In addition, the updated standard will also "require better data being put in the front end and that means more time in the field for engineers."
The IEEE 1584-2018 standard is also more complex with many variations to equipment configuration that will result in longer data input time and analysis of the worst case scenario.
It is expected that “contractors and facility owners will benefit from IEEE 1584-2018 by being able to more thoroughly analyze power systems to calculate the incident energy to which employees could be exposed during operations and maintenance work, allowing them to provide appropriate protection for employees in accordance with the requirements of applicable electrical workplace safety standards.”