Electical Contractor

Most of us take our hands for granted; we assume they’ll always be there and will function correctly whenever we need them. Although computerized technology rules much of our everyday life, construction is still a hands-on occupation.

When selective coordination is critical, e.g., minimizing the extent of an outage, a common design practice is to use a main circuit breaker without an instantaneous tripping function and feeder breakers with one.

On Aug. 9, 2010, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued the long-awaited Crane and Derricks in Construction Final Rule.

A lot can happen in two seconds. What may seem like the blink of an eye can feel like an eternity, especially during an arc flash. When calculating the incident energy as part of an arc flash study, sometimes the IEEE 1584 equations can produce unusually large values.

Conducting a fire alarm system acceptance test in front of a fire official can prove daunting, even when the system passes muster. But doing any form of fire alarm system testing without having the proper tools is downright foolish.

There seems to be no end to studies and theories on education and training that focus on methodology and effectiveness. Yet, for the lay person who simply wants the basic questions on safety training answered, they offer much more than is needed.

For a long time, “going green” was used by hippies and tree-huggers. However, greening has become more mainstream and more necessary for businesses to remain competitive. Your business and the environment are more closely linked than you may think.

My August 2007 article, “Isolated Ground Receptacles,” questions whether isolated ground (IG) receptacles should be permitted in a patient care area.

Knowing how long an arc flash could last is the most important piece of information in predicting its severity. The duration is usually dependent on how fast an upstream protective device will trip. The longer it takes, the greater the incident energy and resulting hazard.