Page 62 - May-Jun 19

SAFETY CORNER

RELIABILITY it reduces the amount of damage to requirements of the NEC®. Meeting your
electrical distribution equipment, making customer wants and needs and keeping
Power system reliability is not only it possible to get the system back into an eye on safety is a recipe for success.
important for electrical safety, it can operation in an efficient manner. Some As always, keep safety at the top of
also be translated directly into cost for of this equipment is not found on the your list and ensure you and those
a business owner. Most businesses can shelf at your local supply house. This around you live to see another day.
translate downtime into dollars per equipment could take weeks to deliver;
hour. Downtime can be significant, so all while production is down. In addition,
increasing reliability can pay dividends. equipment ordered with rush deliveries Thomas Domitrovich, P.E. is VP of Technical
Power distribution design decisions will come with additional charges. Sales for Eaton’s Bussmann business
that can impact the reliability of the within the Circuit Protection Division of
power distribution system includes Eaton Corporation. Thomas is based out of
incident energy reduction and selective DISCONNECTS St. Louis MO and has more than 25 years
coordination. Both of these topics have of experience as an Electrical Engineer.
code requirements associated with Adding local disconnects to equipment He is a LEED Accredited Professional and
them, but your customer may demand not only promotes working de-energized, a licensed Professional Engineer in the
a reliable power system even though it helps save time for those who have state of Pennsylvania. Thomas is active in
it is not a safety-related system falling to locate the proper disconnect for various trade organizations including the
under the provisions of Articles 700, equipment. Local disconnects that contain Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC),
701, and 708, which have requirements fuses can considerably reduce incident International Association of Electrical
for selective coordination and directly energy at equipment served. Reduced Inspectors (IAEI), Institute of Electrical
pertain to life safety circuits. and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), National
incident energy leads to reduced damage Electrical Manufacturer’s Association
and increased safety and reliability. (NEMA) and the National Fire Protection
Association (NFPA). Thomas is Principle
INCIDENT ENERGY member on Code Making Panel 2 for the
®
National Electrical Code (NFPA 70) and
CLOSING an Alternate member on NFPA 73 for
Sections 240.87 and 110.16 both have electrical inspections of existing dwelling
provisions related to incident energy Those aspects discussed here are just a units both representing NEMA.
and incident energy reduction. Reducing few that demonstrate where customer
incident energy not only saves lives,
wants and needs could be beyond the

We need to be as obsessed

about meeting our customer

wants and needs as we

are with meeting what, in

reality, is a bare minimum

for electrical safety.

60 Insights Magazine | May/June 2019 | www.ieci.org