Have you ever dropped tools accidentally? Don’t worry. It can happen to anyone.
It is, however, much more dangerous while working with electrical installations. When two conductors are unexpectedly linked by that drop, electrical arcing (sometimes called a ‘flashover’ or ‘arc flash’) can be caused.
Best-in-class protective products against arc flashover
Protection against the risk of an electric arc
Accidents happen fast and unexpectedly. Even if you feel safe to say that no accidents happen while you are working, a flashover can occur to you, for example, while improperly using live testing equipment. Electric flashovers develop a very strong radiant heat (several thousand °C) possibly causing secondary fires or explosions. They also create extremely powerful blasts and sound waves of more than 165 db. Additionally, they might even generate splashes of molten metal particles or generate vaporised metal.
Protection according to IEC 61482-2
It is needless to say that electric flashovers can cause very serious or even fatal burn injuries when you are not wearing appropriate protective clothing. Sioen offers ARC protective garments conform to the IEC 61482-2 standard protection levels class 1 and 2.
Increase your protection
You can opt for Class 1 or Class 2 garments or layer them, as the level of ARC protection can be increased by multi-layering the garments. Both the outer layers of personal protective clothing and the layers underneath should offer the required protection in case the hazard penetrates the outer layers. The air between the different layers of garments acts as a thermal insulator, offering increased protection against the thermal effects of an ARC flash.
When choosing a multiple-layer solution, you also offer your workers more flexibility. For instance, when wearing an ARC Class 1 long-sleeved polo-shirt as a base layer and an ARC class 1 workwear item as an outer layer, you reach an ARC Class 2 protection level. The combination, thus, provides you with a higher protection level, while you can take off one layer when only ARC Class 1 is required.
Our ARC configurator, a way to mix and match
You might be more familiar with the ATPV or ELIM values that are also used to establish the required protection of a worker that is exposed to the thermal risks of an ARC flashover.
You can find those values for all our ARC protective garments. Multi-layering works in the same way for those values. When combining 2 garments together, the ATPV/ELIM value of the combination will be higher than the sum of the separate values.