Learn How FTI Electrical Risk Management Team Uses ETAP to Develop an Electrical Safe Work Program

Modeled configurations are another powerful tool in ETAP. When we continually update the same facility year after year as part of a safety program, keeping the unimplemented solutions separate from the base building model to avoid printing labels based on a solution the customer has not applied in the field is essential. If the customer does apply that solution, it's easy to update the model to include the change since the mitigation scenario already has it.
by Ms. Jennifer Childress, Engineering Manager at FTI

The Electrical Risk Management group at FTI uses ETAP to provide short circuit, coordination, and arc flash studies to build a safety program for industrial facilities around the US and Canada. This case study describes their approach to an overall safety program and the ways that a safety program encompasses more than just an engineering study. Some topics are the need for maintenance personnel to understand the labeling, assessing the risk vs. just looking at the label, choosing between full coordination and arc flash hazard, field verification, and bolted fault current vs arcing fault current as it relates to equipment evaluation.

Faith Technologies Incorporated (FTI) specializes in electrical planning, engineering, design, construction, and installation. It is engaged in each step of the whole project life cycle: funding, initial assessments, engineering, manufacturing, installation, operating, and optimization. FTI is one of the nation’s leading industrial electrical contractors, electrical engineering systems contractors, and technology systems contractors.

Location: Menasha, Wisconsin, United States

Year: 2022

Ensure electrical safety maintenance in the industrial facilities according to OSHA, LOTO, IEEE, and NFPA standards

Challenges

  • Support the Electrical Risk Management Group at FTI Group. The team helps customers develop safe electrical work programs.
  • Considering all risk areas when accessing electrical equipment for adjustment or testing, and researching how to work more safely. Ensuring the entire electrical safety of the maintenance crew through analyses, documentation, and training.
  • Identifying where the live parts (conductive parts intended to be electrically energized) are in the system, and what the level of exposure to them is. Engineers must consider whether maintenance can occur when the system and equipment are off.
  • Respecting NFPA and IEEE Standards while focusing on OSHA expectations (Occupational Safety and Health Act of the USA). Use proper LOTO safety procedures (lockout/tagout procedures) to avoid unexpected situations where somebody unexpectedly starts the serviced equipment.
  • Modeling the electrical network based on equipment data collection, location, temperatures, etc.  
  • Arc Flash and other electrical analysis with variations for every customer case, using the latest NFPA and IEEE Standards.
  • Finding and setting recommendations for customers and printing safety labels.

Which solutions did they choose?

Selected applications

They chose the ETAP game of software with Arc Flash, Load Flow, Short Circuit, and ETAP Digital-Twin Modeling as a first solution to analyze, calculate, and set recommendations. 

ETAP ensured compliance with all needed electrical standards for electrical risk management.

Why do they use ETAP?

Main Customer Benefits

  • Engineers import or create one-line diagrams into the ETAP and add all electrical parameters. Customer grid system modeling is easy. All electrical libraries are for the disposal of designer items like transformers, switchboards, switchgear, breakers, buses, motors, renewable power sources, UPS, etc.
  • Easy online engineering report created in ETAP software, with field verification, online prints, Arc Flash engineering, and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) labeling. FTI delivers the report to the customer, and a makes a review with him. For one to three years or whenever a major change customer made in an electrical installation, the FTI recommends a safety review.
  • It's easy for FTI to customize an existing model using ETAP tools and libraries. Engineers can continually update the same facility (model) year after year as part of a safety program, and they can keep the unimplemented solutions separate from the base model.
  • Creating scenarios is easy and quick way to find solutions and see how different solutions will work. Analyses of coordination and arc flash are especially important because they depend on each other. 
  • In ETAP software, an engineer can prepare and run multiple configurations to calculate the worst-case arc flash. A powerful Scenario Wizard keeps track of multiple configurations and saves studies in the proper report file.
  • The ETAP data Analyzer can compare the arc flash reports and provide the worst-case arc flash for each item from all studies run. It provides consistency in analyzes and recommendations.
  • High-quality Arc Flash Label creation using ETAP eLabel Marker™. FTI labels include the calories per centimeter squared and the PPE to make it easy for employees to be properly protected. It's one of the most important aspects of a true safety program for an industrial facility. They customized a standard ETAP labeling to make it clearer for maintenance people.

What do they think about ETAP?

Opinions

In this case, the coordination is more important. Obviously, in any case, we would always like to have both coordination and low arc flash, but it's not always possible, and we have to make a choice based on all these factors. Here are a few ways ETAP is a powerful tool for short circuit coordination and arc flash studies.
By Ms. Jennifer Childress, Engineering Manager at FTI

The customer would like to lower arc flash energy, so the engineer looked at some possible solutions. One solution is to install a breaker disconnect ahead of the panel. As you can see, the breaker and wire are out of service in the base case, but in the mitigation case, they are turned on, and we can see the effects of that solution. Utilizing ETAP scenarios allows the engineer to investigate different solutions without compromising the model of the existing building.
By Ms. Jennifer Childress, Engineering Manager at FTI


Videos

Industrial Plant Electrical Risk Management Program

The Electrical Risk Management (ERM) group at FTI uses ETAP to provide short circuit, coordination, and arc flash studies as a part of building a safety program for industrial facilities around the US and Canada. This presentation will describe our approach to an overall safety program and the ways that a safety program encompasses more that just an engineering study. Some topics to be discussed are the need for maintenance personnel to understand the labeling, assessing the risk vs. just looking at the label, the choice between full coordination and arc flash hazard, field verification, and bolted fault current vs arcing fault current as it relates to equipment evaluation. We will look at the ETAP model of one of our industrial customers and discuss the benefits of using ETAP for our studies – reliability, adaptability to many systems by using configurations and scenarios, wizards, availability of DC and MV calculations, Star TCCs, ease of exporting reports to Excel, and solar and wind sources capability.


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