Arc Flash Assessment: Two-Case Study of Public Service Facilities in Kalamazoo, Michigan

Arc flash accidents are one of the leading causes of fatal and non-fatal injuries in both construction and general industries. This paper describes the causes of arc flash and the underlying concepts associated with short-circuit fault analysis. These concepts are applied to model and simulate arc flash scenarios based on the NFPA 70E Standard - 2015 Edition. The case studies considered in this project correspond to two public services facilities located in the City of Kalamazoo, Michigan. These studies are simulated using EasyPower software for short circuit and incident energy analyses. The final result of this work was the successful placement of arc-flash labels according to NFPA safety standard for all main system components.