Development and Implementation of Delphi Corporation´s Electrical Safe Work Practices (ESWP) Program

OSHA regulations CFR 1910.300 - .399 along with NFPA 70E standard for electrical safety in the workplace have set minimum standards for electrical safety in the industrial workplace. The documents have created minimum standards and guidelines for corporations to create and implement their own electrical safety programs. Delphi Corporation has developed the electrical safe work practices (ESWP) standard that is being successfully implemented throughout their North American (U.S.) facilities. Once implemented, Delphi plans to share this information with their Mexican facilities and other Delphi facilities throughout the world. This paper discusses the development of the Delphi ESWP standard and the steps required to implement their electrical safety program. We briefly discussed the development process of the ESWP standard and how facilities engineering, health & safety, and union representatives worked together to come up with a complete and comprehensive document. We then described how the ESWP standard was disseminated to key personnel at each division and plant location. We have described implementation procedures such as conducting short circuit coordination and arc flash studies, providing proper PPE, and labeling equipment from the incoming utility to the plant floor. Finally, we discussed how best practices are shared and the medium from which information was shared throughout Delphi. In addition to sharing best practices we also shared lessons learned that show how to reduce costs and/or reduce implementation time. In a nutshell, Delphi\´s ESWP program requires that all personnel exposed to the hazards of electricity on a daily basis wear hazard risk category (HRC) level 2 FR clothing as daily wear. In addition, when within certain live part boundaries, personnel are required to wear voltage rated gloves, hardhat and face shield. This requirement is for most "floor" level access. Substation and bus exposure require HRC level 4 flash suit and hood to be - orn over the daily wear. These requirements can be downgraded at a particular site if the arc flash study results reveal site levels are lower. Delphi established six goals at the outset of the program. The goals are: 1) implement a daily wear FR clothing program using a two-tiered approach where HRC Level 2 and HRC Level 4 are the standard levels; 2) require the use of current limiting protective devices at the bus level wherever feasible; 3) investigate other engineering controls to reduce the level of the arc flash hazard wherever feasible; 4) complete a detailed electrical hazard analysis for each Delphi facility; 5) label all electrical enclosures to describe the arc flash hazard potential; and 6) locally reassess PPE requirements