Steps to Avoid Devastating Electrical Arc Flash Accidents
from Data Center Journal
Five to 10 times per day in the United States, a worker is severely injured or killed in an electrical arc flash accident. Other electrical incidents also can injure workers; these typically involve accidental contact with energized parts that result in shock and electrocution. The injuries and fatalities that result from these accidents are always devastating to the workers and their families. Additionally, the financial consequences of such events can be very damaging to the company. More

Addressing Ground Faults on MV Generators
from EC&M
Medium-voltage (MV) generators are not designed to withstand full fault current during a single phase-to-ground fault, which is why they are connected to a system with either low- or high-impedance devices. There are many methods to ground these generators. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each (relative to performance) under ground fault conditions. More

Live-Line Work Evolves in Spain
from Transmission & Distribution World
In the 1960s, the Spanish Regulations for Health and Safety at Work prohibited live-line work on electric installations unless the supply was disconnected and earthed. However, the Spanish Association for Medicine and Safety of the Electrical Industry (AMYS) contributed in an important way to the modification of the Health and Safety at Work regulations. As a result, live-line work is now acceptable in Spain. More

The Application of Safety Grounds
from Electrical Business
You must be able to create an electrically safe work condition to work on high-current or high-voltage equipment. A critical step in that process is the application of safety grounds, and most of this equipment will have a ground bus or connection. When you ground the equipment you’re working on, you create a significant safety advantage. More

From Nets to Kilowatts
from Christian Science Monitor
At the Covanta Energy-from-Waste facility in Preston, Conn., a 30-foot wall of garbage towers above 10 tons of tangled fishing gear. Fishing nets, ropes, lobster traps, and buoys from the fishing port of Provincetown, Mass., lie on the floor where trash is dumped for disposal. These massive nets and other gear – some pulled from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean – may look like trash, but they’re about to become something more useful: electricity. More

Square D Services from Schneider Electric Receives Occupational Excellence Achievement Award for 2009
from Schneider Electric
The National Safety Council has named Square D Services from Schneider Electric as a winner of its Occupational Excellence Achievement Award for 2009. The council recognizes companies, units and/or facilities that have reported injuries and illnesses that involved days away from work equal to or less than 50 percent of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) rating for their six-digit industry classification (NAICS) code and have had no fatalities during a calendar year, Jan. 1 through Dec. 31. More

China Racing Ahead of U.S. in the Drive to Go Solar
from The New York Times
President Obama wants to make the United States “the world’s leading exporter of renewable energy,” but in his seven months in office, it is China that has stepped on the gas in an effort to become the dominant player in green energy — especially in solar power, and even in the United States. More