Prioritize circuit breaker and protective relay maintenance using an arc flash hazard assessment

In difficult economic times, companies sometimes delay the performance of maintenance on electrical power distribution equipment to save costs. If this happens, some circuit breakers or protective relays will miss their scheduled maintenance and testing. This can create a significant safety risk, if those protective devices are used to manage arc flash hazards. This paper describes a study method to determine which circuit breakers and protective relays in a system are the most critical, so they can be prioritized for continued proper maintenance.