Utilities, who is in Arc Rated FR & are you paying for the garments?

I am currious to here how utility folks are handling Arc Rated FR garments.

1: Are you putting everyone in you generating stations in FR?

2: What portion (if any) are you paying for?

The station operators and electricians are in FR clothing. This is provided thru a uniform rental service and is paid for by the company (per the Union contract).

We work 99.9% for munis that own their systems and they will foot the bill to put their people in the necessary uniforms.

Alan

Alan have you found that the munis are buying PPE for each and every lineman or buying a couple bags of PPE which will be shared? The typical munis we work for have electric departments that range in size between 3-10 guys. Do you have an idea on how much it will cost to outfit 1 lineman? I am tyring to get a price together so the muni's can put ths into their budget for this year.
Thanks.

Steve,
I work for a IOU and we have 2 linemen. We spend about $24 each per week for rental uniforms, FR 1 shirts and pants. Outer wear the company purchased and I think it was around $300 each.

Most of the people we work with furnish the uniforms for all of the line crews and techs already. As far as pricing goes, it will depend on whether they decide to rent or buy....most rent, and if they allow the individuals to do their own cleaning or have the rental service clean them. Most of the rental companies caution against using certain fabric softeners and bleach when cleaning the garments and warn against allowing the employees clean their own.....but they ARE in the business of doing exactly that, so "probably" not an independent opinion.

For pricing, I would contact the suppliers to see how the cost will vary for each option. Even if they are already furnishing non FR clothing, the cost increase will be significant for the upgrade (probably no less than 30 to 50 percent, and could double).

We are recommending 8 cal minimum for shirts and pants to use for everyday wear and in certain instances of elevated energy levels adding a 12 cal coverall and face shield. Most of the elevated levels are at the secondary of 480 volt 500 kVA pads and up. We have also made the decision to use a 2 second cutoff for these locations.

We have done extensive representative system calcs and seldom find >4 cal on the overhead, hence the 8 cal is conservative.

Most of these utilities will probably not be sharing the coveralls but will have a set for each employee.

One interesting note....I have found that some muni utilities require their line workers to always wear their traffic vests so they are sure to have them on. Have not been able to find a fire retardent vest yet though. Have told them that they have to go.

Alan

Thanks for the great info Alan. Slowly but surely my company and I are starting to come to the same conclusions you have.

I purchased some FR vests last year for a DC rail system arc flash study we performed. Maybe these vests will meet you and your muni's needs:

http://www.tuffrhino.com/Flame_Retardant_Safety_Vest_p/hv1220.htm

Occulux is the manufacturer of the vest.

Alan,
Bulwark has an FR Hi-Vis vest. It is rated 5.5 cal, but if used over other FR clothing, should be ok.
http://www.bulwark.com/product2/objectviewer.aspx?Type=Feature&ObjectID=198560

Also, Hugh Hoagland has a listing of FR clothing manufacturers at:
http://arcwear.com/arcwear.com/frresources.htm

Thanks....I will check it out.

Alan