The 2018 Edition of NFPA 70E is quickly approaching. One area of debate with the 2018 Edition has to do with PPE standards being moved from the mandatory text to an informational note.

For background information, the following is provided:

130.7(C)(14) Standards for Personal Protective Equipment

(a) General The reference to standards listed in Table 130.7(C)(14) which contains specific industry standards for PPE has been replaced with “PPE shall conform to applicable state, federal, or local codes and standards.� The list of standards is now in an informational note as examples.

(b) Conformity Assessment This section requires that “All suppliers and manufactures of PPE shall demonstrate conformity with an appropriate product standard by one of the following methods.�

(1) Self-declaration with a Supplier’s Declaration of Conformity
(2) Self-declaration under a registered quality management system and product testing by an accredited laboratory and Suppliers Declaration of Conformity
(3) Certification by an accredited independent third-party certification organization

This weeks’ question:

Do you agree with moving the list of PPE standards from mandatory text to an informational note?
Yes
No
No Opinion

Your thoughts and opinions are always welcome!

I voted NO but I don't know what the logic is behind this move. It seems like moving the standards to an informational note / no longer mandatory, might open this up to potential abuse. How will we know even with conformity assessment? Many people don't know what standards are used anyway so this seems like a step in the wrong direction. Just my thoughts.

Seems appropriate. The list may change, and not in a way that corresponds to the 70E revision cycle.

This means you will NOT want to purchase anything with an Arc Rating And NFPA 70E as the sole listed standard it meets. You will want to be certain that it meets ASTM F1506 or F1891 or the other applicable standards.

Not really a huge change but it did move NFPA 70E into a less stringent standard. Did however open it to being used internationally more since IEC has many standards for AR garments and is now working on faceshields and gloves.

The problem with NFPA being international is that so many of the terms are built on the NEC which is typically OK in the Americans but not as well accepted elsewhere.

We'll have to see if this changes the quality of garments in the US. We typically don't have much of a problem with AR garments being fake or substandard garments in the US so let's hope this change doesn't hurt our safety.

The reason behind it was a desire to follow the Form and Style of the NEC which forces all standards other than NFPA standards to be in notes as "recommended". I was told that there were some standards which had been built around patented devices in the NEC and forced contractors to purchase from ONE company in some electrical equipment. So to fix this, the TCC of the NEC required all standards to be "recommended" to allow competition.

Sometimes committees cause problems by fixing another problem. We hope this is not one of those examples since all the ASTM standards are performance based.

Hugh Hoagland
Sr. Managing Partner
e-Hazard | http://www.e-hazard.com

Great discussion. Good info Hugh – I think we run in similar circles with this.

There is a bit of additional information to add. The ASTM F18 committee (I am a member along with Hugh and a few others on the forum) officially tried to stop having the referenced standards moved to an informational note. There was quite a bit of correspondence.

I can’t go into the politics and details as it would not be appropriate but at one time ASTM F18 thought that compliance to the NEC Style Manual rule was a mandate. However, in subsequent correspondence from NFPA (I won’t name the specifics) it was made pretty clear that the style manual is created for conformity but NOT intended to change or direct technical. In some of the ensuing correspondence the IEC was referenced so I was obligated to provide an official response as International Chair of the IEC Technical Committee responsible for the PPE standards (and many others).

At the moment, I believe everything will continue on as before. However, the door is now open for other standards to possibly be brought into the fold. In particular, IEC has 2 test methods for arc testing. One is very similar to the ASTM method (although a new criteria / term was developed to conform with CEN requirements – CEN = Europe)

The other method known as the “box test� is quite different and although only a handful of countries openly support it, there now may be a possibility where it could eventually find its way into the US via this opening. The box test is a bit difficult and confusing to apply. There are 2 classes of PPE – Arc Protection Class 1 and Arc Protection Class 2. With the Class 1 and 2 method there is no arc rating or quantifiable metric like cal/cm2. I’m not sure if there will be an attempt in the future to introduce this to the US now that specific standards are not mandatory but there is an aggressive effort to move this test method forward.

Many who visit this forum understand PPE, Arc Ratings, etc. and know about ASTM, PPE testing etc (Hugh does a lot of the testing). The unfortunate part is there are many that do not. They will just state "I want PPE So I am Compliant�

Time will tell.

Jim Phillips

It sounds like the burden just got shifted to the user to understand what they need. So many people just want PPE for arc flash protection but know nothing beyond that. I wonder what will happen if someone ends up with inadequate PPE from an alternative standard and there is an injury? This really seems like it is on the wrong track.

NFPA 70E always left the decision to the end user. YOU must make sure even listed equipment is legitimate.

Use a good reputable company. Listed equipment was right when listed but IF they let their quality slide over the course of the year, it could be bad. Fakes are also a possibility.

Buy good quality brands and you don't have to worry. If it is 30-50% less, you have had the wrong distributor OR you now may have a fake or substandard product.

This just means you should NO LONGER look for NFPA 70E in the label since is COULD mean less than before. Look for the proper ASTM standard.

Hugh Hoagland
Sr. Consultant
ArcWear | http://www.arcwear.com

It seems that this will not be much different than specifying or procuring other items such as panels or switchboards. Know what you want and know what standard is suppose to be used.