Lessons Learned Developing Standardized PPE Levels and Task-Specific Risk Assessments for a Multinational Company: Copyright Material IEEE Paper No. ESW2021-27

This paper looks at the process and problems the authors encountered when developing and standardizing PPE levels and task-specific risk assessments for a multinational company that operates large facilities with complex electrical systems around the world. The obstacles of synchronizing a coherent electrical safety program with national standards, international test methods and certification processes and even different language for arc flash/electric arc/electrical arc were resolved to provide consistent requirements that met a corporate NFPA 70E/OSHA 1910.269 program adapted to EU and other international norms. These risk assessment learnings will provide an extremely effective tool for minimizing risk and protecting workers, when applied correctly. For this to happen, personnel of all levels need to have a clear understanding of the company's expectations when it comes to assessing risk and selecting PPE for a given task. The company can accomplish this by standardizing PPE criteria and risk assessments for common tasks on a given piece of equipment. Doing so requires a significant amount of upfront and ongoing work, but will greatly reduce the chance of errors in common tasks and provide a template for future risk assessments.