Six workers were sent to the hospital last Wednesday after an arc flash explosion at a Dortec Industries plant in Newmarket that manufactures door latches for vehicles. The arc blast was isolated to one manufacturing line and while the company is investigating the cause, they do not expect the incident to disrupt regular business as the blast did not cause any damage to equipment or building structure. Out of nine people injured, six were sent to the hospital and released the same day. The victims in this article are fortunate that their injuries were non-life-threatening.

To read more, please view the full article: http://www.cp24.com/news/explosion-at-newmarket-factory-sends-6-to-hospital-1.1261814. For more information on Arc Flash safety training, please visit our website: http://www.powerstudies.com/services.

Three workers are fighting for their lives at Rashid Hospital after suffering severe electrical burns in a site accident behind Wafi Mall on Sunday morning.

The victims, two electrical engineers and one supervisor, were testing some electrical panels when the accident happened ar around 11am. One of the engineers worked for ETA Ascon while the two others were outsourced by the ETA from another company.

According to an official from ETA Ascon, the victims reportedly forgot to remove the electrical cables of the previous panel from the machine tester they were using and plugged another set of cables from another panel causing the machine to explode.

Power production stopped at Ice Harbor Dam near Burbank after two small fires were discovered at 9 a.m. Thursday.

The fires were inside two cabinets holding electrical components for two of the dam’s six generators, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. Three generators were operating at the time.

Power for dam facilities stopped, but power was being pulled off the electrical grid within 30 minutes for basic facility operations. The navigation lock returned to service at 12:40 p.m.

“Predictive Maintenance for Medium Voltage Switchgear above 4kV” is an article written by Bob Fuhr, founder and president of PowerStudies.com. This article discusses electrical equipment maintenance, specifically Partial Discharge measurements. Bob explains what PD is, the potential hazards it can cause, and how you can avoid hiring an expensive testing agency to measure PD levels in your facility. There are many advantages to continuous measurement of PD and you can read about them here on our website!

“A construction worker was badly injured this morning when he came in contact with a powerful electrical line while on a job in western Henrico County.

Henrico Fire & EMS Capt. Jim Mellon said the victim, who is in his mid 20s, was in critical condition when he was taken to VCU Medical Center.

Mellon said authorities were called at 9:14 a.m. after the construction worker was moving a piece of scaffolding and came in contact with a power line while at a job site in the 1600 block of Harborough Road, a short distance south of Mills Godwin High School.

The power line was transmitting 19,900 volts of electricity, Mellon said.

More than 100 Dominion Virginia Power customers lost electricity as a result of the accident, Mellon said.”

 Source: Richmond Times Dispatch

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Atlanta-based The Home Depot Inc. for two repeat and one serious safety violations for exposing employees to electrical hazards at a Chicago store. OSHA opened an inspection in July that was prompted by a referral about blocked electrical panels in the store. Proposed fines total $69,300.

Please view the link above to read more.

In honor of football season, we bring to you the story of two NFL fans. While watching the Oakland Raiders play the Pittsburgh Steelers, the fans raised a flag attached to a 20 foot pole and neglected to notice the power lines overhead. They both suffered non life threatening electrical burns. Fire officials said that alcohol may have been involved in this incident and also noted that the type of flag being raised was not clearly recognizable. Please view the link to read more.

Waterloo North Hydro Inc., an electricity distributor for Waterloo and the surrounding area, was fined $110,000 for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act after a worker was injured.

On October 12, 2010, a mall was under construction in Waterloo. Workers from Waterloo North Hydro Inc. had installed transformers on site and were attempting to send power from a transformer in one location to a transformer in another location. As power was sent to the second transformer, a worker for an electrical contractor was in the area routing a metal tape through a duct. The tape came into contact with a newly energized electrical conductor and caused an arc flash. The worker was badly burned.

Please view the link above to read more.