Reducing arc flash Hazard/Risk Category (HRC) in mining shovels based on standard NFPA-70E

The arc flash hazard must be approached to reduce the risk and severity of injuries for personnel working close to energized equipment. This work´s strategy is based on the Hard Barriers of the Hierarchy of Risk Control i.e. elimination, substitution and engineering controls. Effective tactics to shift the safety hard barriers for reducing personnel HRC include: equipment drive´s technology (AC or DC), length of trailing cables between mining shovels and mobile power substations, length of power lines between mine feeder busbars and mobile power substations, overcurrent protection´s settings of mobile power substations, and, the electrical parameters of mine feeder busbars in the power system.