According to the Occupational Health and Safety Act § 3, the employer is obliged to take necessary measures which lead to an improvement of the safety and health protection of the employees at work (on electrical installations).
Optimise the arc fault protection concept
Use this checklist as a guideline to assess arc fault hazards in your electrical installations and optimise your company-wide arc fault protection concept. If you have any questions, please contact our arc fault expert.
Do you know the legal order of priority of specifications concerning arc fault protection in your company?
(E.g. German Occupational Health and Safety Act, German Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health, DGUV regulations, standards and test principles)
Were protection goals intentionally defined and implemented in your arc fault protection concept? (E.g. system availability, protection of service personnel)
Are current operating and work instructions in place for and on the electrical systems?
(E.g. Do you work strictly according to the five safety rules?)
Are employees trained annually on the special dangers posed by arc faults when working in and on electrical systems, and is their awareness raised in this regard? And is this documented?
Has an arc fault risk assessment been conducted and documented as per DGUV-I 203-077 taking into account the energy of an electric arc? (Influencing factors are, for example, short-circuit currents, tripping times and working distances)
Are the electrical installations safe to touch and free of potential bridges?
(E.g. covers and insulation)
Is your low-voltage and medium-voltage switchgear type-tested and are the systems arc-fault-tested?
In the event of an electric arc, is the tripping time of your circuit breaker or fuses quick enough to protect people and equipment?
Is the use of an arc fault protection system (with quenching device) possible in your high-energy installations or planned in new installations?
Are access regulations / operating regulations regarding electrical installations and their rooms in place at your company?
Are your tools and safety equipment checked regularly with regard to their function and integrity? (E.g. voltage detectors every 6 years)
Is arc-fault-tested personal protective clothing (PPE against the thermal effects of arc faults) in use and, if so, has this been chosen in line with the risk assessment?
Is the effectiveness of the arc fault protection measures and their implementation checked regularly?
Johannes Pirkl
Phone: +49 9181 906-1587
