* reduces risk of employee injury or death
* provides safety info for sub-contractors
* limits equipment damage
* increases system reliability for better uptime for production
* yields a potential reduction in workers comp and insurance claims

As such, there’s really no good reason not to do it, though many manufacturing sites tend to put off compliance since it is not required to operate the facility. To bring your facility in compliance with regulations, you must follow NFPA 70E guidelines and conduct an arc flash study.

You’ll need to know this to manually calculate your arc flash hazard.
If you wish to calculate your arc flash hazard manually, the following information is required:

* an up-to-date one-line diagram to verify where all power is coming from.
* a short circuit study MVA and source MVA ratings, equipment and cable impedance, cable length and motor contribution.
* a coordination study to know how fast protective devices will react to level of fault you may experience.

Determining appropriate PPE is key.
Reference sources are available through IEEE and NFPATBD to aid in conducting the calculations for analysis and to determine appropriate PPE. You can perform the calculations yourself, but there are a number of variables associated with current, type of equipment, use and potential fault varieties. Software designed for such calculations makes the job much easier. Organizations offering such software include: Cooper Bussmann, Easy Power, eTAP, Ferraz Shawmut, IEEE, Littlefuse, and SKM, among others.

Hiring a consultant firm to help you.
As an added step toward achieving proper compliance, employing a third-party vendor to conduct the analysis will ensure that the calculations are performed correctly, proper documentation is provided, and that your facility is in compliance and personnel are safely protected.