"Understanding that the thermal hazard represents only 10-20% of the arc flash phenomenon"..... IEEE/NFPA Collaborative Research Project Team.

Should arc flash face shields and hood windows be designed to protect the worker from high impact hazards such as shrapnel or other flying debris?

Would you recommend that all shields be certified for both high mass and high velocity?

I would think that if you are worried about that level of debris to the face, then you should not be working on it anyway, since the rest of your PPE won't protect you from it either.

Hi Alan. I'm sorry, but that's not my point. Workers should be concerned about shrapnel and other flying debris when ever an arc flash hazard exists. Therefore even while de-energizing which is considered an energized job task as per NFPA 70E/CSA Z462. The intent of the standards in North America is for workers to de-energize but that doesn't give them a free pass on electrical specific PPE.

I'm interested in the feedback from this online community regarding high impact protection offered by existing arc flash face protective technologies, ie Polycarbonate vs Propionate.

For more information on shrapnel please see attached. Some manufacturers have utilized standard fragment testing technology to evaluate arc flash protective products.

"Polycarbonate vs Propionate?"

Can't help with that one....maybe someone else has more info.