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New Year, New Gear: Staying Up to the 2024 70E Standard

Kicking off a new year presents various opportunities for change and improvement. From personal resolutions to professional goals, almost everyone aims to level up. One simple way to reach your target? Ensuring your electrical safety PPE programs are aligned with the 2024 NFPA 70E standard.

What is the NFPA 70E Standard?

NFPA 70E is meant to provide a practical, safe working area for employees relative to the hazards that arise from electricity use. This standard addresses electrical safety-related work practices, maintenance requirements and other administrative controls for workers whose job responsibilities involve interaction with energized electrical hazards that could result in injury or fatality due to shock, arc flash and arc blast.

The new, key NFPA 70E takeaway regarding arc flash risk assessment and PPE selection is the emphasis on assessing the condition of equipment maintenance (Annex S).

Assessing and improving your electrical equipment condition is most likely already on your to-do list so you avoid workplace injuries and fatalities due to shock and arc flash. PPE practices also need to be evaluated, as the standard industrial electrician may likely wear cotton-based attire but need to don FR, arc-rated coveralls for specific energized tasks. What happens, however, when human error coupled with a routine energized electrical task takes a turn for the dangerous and your team is left unprepared? If they’re wearing only non-FR apparel, basically fuel for the potential hazard, the outcome is usually a catastrophic burn injury.

How do I prepare for NFPA 70E?

One simple way to prepare your team for the daily risks of burn injury is to upgrade your organization’s electrical safety PPE program in accordance with the latest NPFA standards. While assessing the condition of equipment maintenance (hazard assessment), also assess the condition of the PPE program (PPE selection), including sustainable, comfortable, properly arc-rated daily wear clothing, to ensure your team remains safer throughout every job.

“By assessing and maintaining your equipment annually, you impact and improve your risk assessments. Checking your organization’s PPE program goes together with that process,” said Scott Francis, Senior Account Manager, Westex. “This procedure is vital to reducing both the likelihood of incident occurrence and the severity of potential injuries.”

Westex offers a wide variety of fabrics to meet your safety needs and your comfort expectations. Our DH Air™ is an ideal choice for arc flash and flash fire protection, providing excellent breathability and moisture management while maintaining color consistency for the wearer. Meanwhile, our Polartec® Power Dry® FR uses a patented tri-blend knit to deliver mechanical wicking action and high breathability for fast drying times and ultra-comfortable performance.

Discover more Westex fabrics that can help you reach your 2024 goals while keeping your team safe here.