Q: Does winter wear or rainwear worn by an electrical worker have to be AR or just FR?
A: Standards including NFPA 70E and OSHA 1910.269 require garments not to increase burns in the event of an arc flash.
Both prohibit melting materials like polyester and nylon from being worn unless they are arc rated in blends.
While your rainwear or winterwear does not have to be your primary source of protection (you can wear a very lightweight rainsuit with minimal protection levels, perhaps as low as 5 cal/cm2), those articles CANNOT increase injury or melt onto a worker. So how do we accomplish this? OSHA , in 2014, states in 1910.269(l)(8)(iii) that the “employer shall ensure that each employee who is exposed to hazards from flames or electric arcs does not wear clothing that could…melt onto his or her skin or that could ignite and continue to burn when exposed… and …. prohibits clothing made from acetate, nylon, polyester, rayon and polypropylene, either alone or in blends, unless the employer demonstrates that the fabric has been treated to withstand the conditions that may be encountered by the employee or that the employee wears the clothing in such a manner as to eliminate the hazard involved.” Additionally, 1910.269(l)(8)(iv) reads, “The employer shall ensure that the outer layer of clothing worn by an employee …. is flame resistant under any of the following conditions:
- The employee is exposed to contact with energized circuit parts operating at more than 600 volts,
- An electric arc could ignite flammable material in the work area that, in turn, could ignite the employee’s clothing,
- Molten metal or electric arcs from faulted conductors in the work area could ignite the employee’s clothing, or
- The incident heat energy estimated … exceeds 2.0 cal/cm2.
NFPA 70E is similar including “parkas and rain wear” in a list of garments that may not be primary protection but are required to be arc rated (AR):
130.7(C)(9)(b) “Outer Layers. Garments worn as outer layers over arc-rated clothing, such as jackets or rainwear, shall also be made from arc-rated material.”
ASTM F2302 was the minimum standard for labeling clothing as heat and flame resistant but has been withdrawn as of February 2017 due to abuse. This standard is not cited in OSHA 1910.269 or NFPA 70E because the standard includes only two small scale methods. The oven and vertical flame tests used in ASTM F2302 do not replicate large scale flash fire or arc flash testing, and the small scale methods alone do not exclude all melting materials; therefore, FR clothing labeled solely as compliant to ASTM F2302 does not provide adequate protection from an arcing event. ASTM F2302 had NO correlation to any hazard assessment criteria either.
OSHA and NFPA 70E do not allow melting materials to be considered as “FR” unless they are arc rated in blends. Many companies have been fooled with ASTM F2302 which is a now withdrawn standard for minimum FR. Melting materials would pass the 2003 and 2008 version (especially FR rainwear), but these would NOT be acceptable for an arc or a flash fire exposure.
ONLY use arc or flash fire rated garments in the respective exposures.
e-Hazard recommends following the guidelines listed above in NFPA 70E to ensure appropriate personnel protection.
