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March 21, 2016 - $72,688 in OSHA Fines For Pyrotechnic Facility
March  21, 2016
Owens Cross Roads, Alabama 

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations to the employer, Ultratec Special Effects Inc. on March 18 for four repeated, six serious and five other-than-serious safety violations.
Inspection findings: The agency initiated an investigation after learning of two explosions at the pyrotechnic facility on Oct.1, 2015.




The repeated citations relate to the employer not:
  • Documenting that safety equipment complies with generally accepted engineering practices for the manufacture and storage of fireworks.
  • Updating the process hazard analysis at least every five years.
  • Developing and implementing written operating procedures for all pyrotechnic products.
  • Implementing procedures to manage changes to the production process.
OSHA cited the company for the same violations in 2015 at this location.

The serious citations relate to the employer's failure to:
  • Compile process safety information for the building relief system.
  • Develop, document and utilize specific procedures to prevent machinery from starting up during maintenance and servicing.
  • Update process safety information to address equipment changes.
  • Conduct a pre-start safety review after significant modifications were made to production buildings.
Other violations include the employer not preparing an incident report at the conclusion of an investigation; ensuring containers of hazardous chemicals were properly labeled and failing to provide safety data sheets for all chemicals used in the process.
Quote: "Ultratec continues to endanger its employees, as it has not addressed previously identified safety hazards and deficiencies with its process safety management system," said Ramona Morris, OSHA's area director in Birmingham. "Fortunately, no one was injured in these incidents, but management must take immediate action to address safety hazards before an employee is seriously injured or killed."

Proposed penalties: $72,688
 

10 Questions To Test Your Electrician Skills
January 25, 2016
Courtesy of  Electrical Engineering Portal
Let's Test Your Electrician Skills 
These are not-so-easy, but also not-too-hard questions for you to try to answer and test your electrician skills. Whether you are a novice in a field of electrical engineering or a professional electrician, these questions will move your brain cells for sure! To check your results, take a peek for answers at the bottom of article.
  
Let's start.

Question #1 
Building "A" is supplied with 120/240 volt single-phase power from building "B" on the same property. "B" is supplied from a three-wire with two ungrounded conductors and one neutral without any metallic water pipe or other metal equipment connections to the building or equipment ground fault protection installed.
The neutral conductor must:

A. Not be connected to a grounding electrode in the second building
B. Not be connected to a grounding electrode in either building
C. Be bonded to the disconnect enclosure in the second building and connected to a grounding electrode
D. Tie into the ungrounded conductor of one of the buildings with a grounding jumper

Question #2
A feeder runs from one part of a building to another under the floor in two parallel sets of rigid non-metallic conduits with type RHW copper conductors size AWG #500 and is protected by 800 ampere fuses. It must have a minimum size copper equipment grounding conductor in each conduit run of no less than which of the following:
A. 1/0 AWG
B. 20 AWG
C. 10 amps
D. 5 AWG

Question #3
A surge arrestor for a 480 volt electrical system requires a connecting conductor that is #14 copper or larger.
A. True
B. False
 



The 8 Troubleshooting Steps a Certified Bad Ass Electrician Does Every Time
1. Read and understand every word on the arc flash label.
2. Ensure you have the correct level of PPE, based on the label's information or NFPA 70E Tables.
  
3. Think about where the upstream protective device is and how far away it might be. The farther away, the longer it will take to clear.

4. Note what the end load is and if it is a motor. Motors can increase the incident energy.

5. Choose the appropriate Class of insulated gloves and do a field inspection of the insulated gloves, glove protectors, and your arc-rated PPE for any damage.

6. Visually inspect the insulated tools for wear or damage.

7. Visually and physically inspect your testing instruments for damage and proper function (a known live circuit, then a known dead circuit, then live once more).

8. Last, establish the protective boundaries and don the PPE.

Thon Beck Vanni Callahan & Powell Wins $7.1 Million Verdict
Against Qualcomm on Behalf of Burn Victim
February 16, 2016
Courtesy of PR Web
Thon Beck Vanni Callahan & Powell, the Pasadena-based law firm, has won a verdict against Qualcomm, the global semiconductor and telecommunications giant and one of San Diego's largest employers. Qualcomm will pay $7.1 million to a man who suffered severe burns in 2013 while inspecting electrical equipment at the company's San Diego headquarters. That verdict was handed down on February 10 by a trial jury in San Diego. The plaintiff, Martin Sandoval, was represented by attorneys Dan Powell and Michael O'Connor of Thon Beck Vanni Callahan & Powell.

QC makes its own electricity. It uses a switchgear system to control, protect, and isolate electrical equipment. According to court records, ROS Electrical Supply & Equipment Company, based in Pico Rivera, was contracted to inspect Qualcomm's switchgear system for an upgrade. On August 3, 2013, Martin Sandoval of Ros Electrical arrived at Qualcomm to conduct that inspection. Sandoval was badly burned in an arc flash fire from a live circuit breaker that was left on during the inspection, according to court records.

Important information in the case only recently became available after Qualcomm laid off more than 1,300 employees from its San Diego headquarters in November. Although Qualcomm had denied responsibility for safety during the 2013 inspection, three former Qualcomm employees came forward to make statements after the November 20 layoffs, according to court records. As Qualcomm employees, a litigation hold had previously prevented them from speaking about the 2013 incident, according to court records.

Also according to court records, Brian Higuera, who had been a Qualcomm supervisor in charge of the switchgear, stated that because he could not be at work on August 3, 2013, he recommended not going forward with the inspection - for safety reasons - to a Qualcomm senior facilities manager, Kirk Redding. Redding instead agreed to take Higuera's place that day, according to Higuera's statement. However, Redding did not appear at work on August 3. Sandoval was told the entire system was to be turned off. It wasn't. Another contractor, without permission, removed a protective cover from a live 4,160-volt circuit breaker.

Learn How Flash Track Can Make You More Profitable

Read The Article That Has Electrical Contractors Talking...
Simple Steps To Get Into The Lucrative Arc Flash Market
Published By Electrical Products & Solutions
October 2015
Written By  Bryan Rupert

This article by Bryan Rupert, featured in the October issue of Electrical Products and Solutions is a simple guide with step by step instructions to get you in the Arc Flash market. Here you will learn the process as well as gain insight on how to price this type of work.  Don't be the last in your area to get into this very lucrative market.  Click Here To Read More 










Download FlashTrack Process Comparison - See For Yourself 
 
 

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FlashTrack™ is an award winning data collection software tool. FlashTrack™ was developed for the purpose of collecting the required equipment attributes that are needed to conduct an arc flash analysis. These same attributes can be used to complete a coordination study or short circuit analysis. FlashTrack™ allows the qualified data collector to model equipment relationships using a drag-n-drop interface. FlashTrack™ is used to catalog the attributes in the format of a single-line diagram. FlashTrack™ exports the completed files to an Excel file (.xls) or CSV file and produces a "Label Installation Report" containing the location of each item that requires a label to be installed. This report can have up to 4 photographs per item for easier item location. The label installation report will save you time and money and eliminate frustration when locating each piece of equipment.
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