ARC Flash KPI Compliance at a Large Oil and Gas Company

An oil and gas company's arc flash electrical safe operations program is a corporate initiative to prevent electrical arc flash injuries. The program implements the company general instruction-electrical arc flash hazard mitigation, which provides minimum safe work requirements for protection of personnel in the workplace against electrical arc flash hazards in accordance with the National Fire Protection Agency 70E. The program tracks five key performance indicators (KPIs) to protect employees from arc flash hazards in all company facilities, which are as follows: 1) technology deployment; 2) training and certification; 3) operation and maintenance delineation; 4) operation and maintenance unified procedures; and 5) arc flash analysis. To verify compliance, the company initiated field-based assessments conducted by a specialized team of Power Systems Compliance and Electrical Engineers. The assessments are designed to validate each facility's compliance as well as to identify any opportunities for improvement in the application of arc flash mitigation. The assessors utilized a standardized checklist to determine the level to which established KPIs have been implemented. The checklists are weighted and scored to validate compliance in a consistent manner. This paper demonstrates a structured approach to measure arc flash KPI compliance and highlights some findings and practical examples that can be applied at many oil and gas facilities.