Arc Flash Studies & NFPA 70E Compliance.
Hazard analysis, labeling, and mitigation planning that protect your people and your compliance posture.
WIL-Surge Electric performs NFPA 70E arc flash studies for facilities across Wisconsin, including hazard analysis, arc flash risk assessment, labeling, and mitigation planning that protect the people who work on your electrical systems. A study can cover an existing facility or be part of a new build, and our licensed master electricians carry the work from study to labeled equipment.
What an Arc Flash Study Includes
An arc flash study looks at the electrical equipment in your facility, including switchgear, switchboards, panelboards, and disconnects, and determines the hazard a worker would face at each one. From that hazard analysis come the labels, PPE requirements, and safety procedures your team needs.
The study also points to ways to reduce risk. Our mitigation planning draws on years of field experience to find practical changes that lower the hazard at the equipment where it matters most.
Data an Arc Flash Study Needs
An arc flash study is only as accurate as the information behind it. The starting point is a current one-line diagram showing how power flows from the utility service through switchgear, transformers, and panelboards to the equipment that uses it. Where drawings are missing or out of date, the system has to be verified in the field before the results can be trusted.
From there, the study gathers the details that decide how much energy an arc could release: available fault current from the utility, transformer ratings and impedance, conductor sizes and lengths, and the type, rating, and settings of protective devices such as breakers, fuses, and relays. Settings matter as much as ratings, because how quickly a device clears a fault largely determines the hazard downstream.
From Study Results to Safe Work Practices
The numbers in a study are meant to be used. Results feed directly into a facility's electrical safety program: they define the arc flash boundary around each piece of equipment, inform the PPE workers select, and give supervisors the information for a meaningful job briefing before work begins. They also show which equipment carries the greatest risk, so tasks there get the most planning.
NFPA 70E treats putting equipment in an electrically safe work condition, de-energized, locked out, and verified, as the primary way to protect workers. A study supports that approach rather than replacing it, giving teams accurate hazard information for the tasks that happen before equipment is proven de-energized, including the voltage test itself.
NFPA 70E Requirements
NFPA 70E is the national standard for electrical safety in the workplace. It asks employers to assess arc flash hazards before anyone works on energized equipment, label that equipment, and make sure the people doing the work are qualified and protected. An arc flash study is how facility managers and EHS teams meet those requirements with documentation to back it up.
Labeling & Documentation
Arc flash labeling puts the study's findings where workers see them. Each piece of equipment gets a label showing its hazard and the protection required to work on it, and owners receive the study documentation for their safety records, so the results are ready when an inspector, insurer, or contractor asks.
PPE Planning
The right personal protective equipment depends on the hazard at each piece of gear. Our studies set the PPE category and requirements for each piece of equipment, so workers know exactly what to wear before they open a panel, and owners aren't guessing about what protection to provide.
Keeping Labels Current After Changes
Labels only protect people if they match the equipment in front of them. Replacing a transformer, adding a generator, changing breaker settings, or upgrading the utility service can raise or lower the available energy at equipment downstream, sometimes at panels nowhere near the change. When the system is modified, the affected portion of the study should be reviewed and the labels updated before anyone relies on them.
Maintenance plays a part as well. Protective devices that aren't maintained may not operate as quickly as the study assumes, so keeping breakers and relays in good condition helps keep the calculated hazard accurate. See our electrical service and maintenance.
Energized Work & the Hierarchy of Controls
NFPA 70E follows a hierarchy of risk controls that starts with eliminating the hazard and moves through substitution, engineering controls, awareness, and administrative controls before reaching PPE, which is the last line of defense rather than the first. Energized work is limited to situations where de-energizing would create a greater hazard or isn't feasible, and it calls for justification and planning before the work begins.
An arc flash study gives owners the information to decide where hazards can be reduced at the source and where procedures and PPE need to carry the load.
Employee Training
Our own crews train to NFPA 70E and review hazards in regular toolbox talks, so the electricians performing your study and installing your labels work under the same standard they apply to your facility. With every study, we hand off the labeled equipment and qualified-person safety procedures your team needs to work safely. Learn more about our safety record and prequalification.
Compliance Schedules
An arc flash study isn't a one-time job. NFPA 70E calls for reviewing the study at least every five years, and sooner after major changes to the electrical system, like new equipment, a service upgrade, or a renovation. We update studies and labels on that schedule so your documentation keeps matching the facility.
Explore our full commercial electrical services, or request an arc flash study.
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Preconstruction support, budgeting, and design-build expertise, from a partner who self-performs the work.