Last week's question was about electrocution fatalities. Although a few waded into the subject of arc flash, I was saving that for this week. No secret that an arc flash can cause major injuries and sometime lead to a death.

So here we go.

Have you ever know anyone that was an arc flash fatality?
Yes
No

Let's see if the stats hold true. Estimates are between 10:1 and 20:1 for arc flash injuries to fatalities, and estimates of electrocutions vs. arc flash are 2:1 so the odds here should be between 1 in 20 and 1 in 40 of those who know someone who has died because of an electrical injury.

I think that it is most likely that most deaths due to arc flash are related to burns, not electrocurion

Although I teach between 4-8 of these classes per month I have no story of a fatality that was related to me, and I have not witnessed one myself.
I have, however, had numerous people tell me (and show me pictures) of injuries. Some very serious and some very recent. I have also, as well, experienced minor burns on several occasions. ( I know, stupid, huh? But, a long time ago in the 80's.)

Usually AF and the shock experiences are the opening topics for the classes. It amazes me, given the knowledge we have today, how many people, even recently, have had shocks and burns.

I'm not linking arc flash and shock. I'm pointing out that statistically fatalities from arc flash are probably much more rare. And not just because there is more exposure to 120/240 so more opportunities for injuries. ESFI's data doesn't show any link to voltage.

I've seen plenty of results of severe shocks that include burn damage but in my mind it's not the same thing, it's just an additional effect of a shock, when burn injuries are caused by a shock. Arc flash is not the same cause unless the human body becomes a "fuse" to light off an arcing fault. Arc flash is when we have an electrical arcing fault that causes burn damage by virtue of thermal radiation.

ESFI published a number of something like 0.2 shocks per 10,000 workers per year and 0.1 arc flash injuries per 10,000 workers per year. There have been a couple ESW reports that claimed between 10 and 20 arc flash injuries to fatalities. My own statistical analysis of the OSHA data shows the same trend. So I'm not equating electrocutions here to arc flash. In my own experience I've known OF a few fatalities due to arc flash but I've not personally known any fatally injured victims compared to shock where I've known a couple personally.

If you separate the electrocutions from the shocks by the way the ESFI data looks quite a bit different. If you lump in all electrical burn injuries whether internal (shock) or external (arc flash) you get the above cited 0.1 injuries/10,000 workers/year. But if you separate out and look at only external burn injuries (arc flash) the number plummets to only a minor amount per year.