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Electrical Fire Prevention Guide
WIRE Consultancy, F-03, First floor, D-53, Red FM Marg, Sector-2, Noida-201301
www.wireconsultants.com, info@wireconsultants.com
ELECTRICAL FIRE PREVENTION GUIDE
SAFETY
ENVIRONMENT
HEALTH
Electrical Fire Prevention Guide
WIRE Consultancy, F-03, First floor, D-53, Red FM Marg, Sector-2, Noida-201301
www.wireconsultants.com, info@wireconsultants.com
1. What are electrical fires?
Electricity is a common cause of fires in commercial buildings and other industrial facilities.
To understand the impact of electrical fire, take a look on these statistics of India & Worldwide.
According to data from the National Crime Records
Bureau (NCRB), in 2015, 2,255 persons died due to
accidental fires caused by electrical short circuits, a 25%
rise from the previous year and a 48 per cent jump from
2011.
The National Building Code 2016 tackles the issue of
fatalities caused due to short circuits and lists regulations
to prevent electrical hazards. But inadequate awareness
about the code and general laxity in its implementation
has been responsible for the apathy towards safety
norms while laying down electrical installation
A total of 1,970 fire accidents were caused by electrical
short-circuit of which 1,368 were men. Maharashtra,
West Bengal and Karnataka were the states with the
most deaths.
According to the German Insurance Association, 31.7% of
fires in Germany are caused by electricity.
In 2011-2015, United States fire departments responded
to an estimated annual average of 5,750 structure fires in
health care properties each year. These fires caused
annual averages of two civilian deaths, 157 civilian
injuries, and $50.4 billion in direct property damage.
The CEA data relates 42% of fires to defective electrical
systems. Most short-circuit fires are triggered by loose or
improper wiring, substandard electrical fittings, and poor
maintenance of wiring.
Electrical faults seem to be the major reason for industrial
disasters in the country as 56% of incidents are reportedly
caused by them; The Hindu
Workplace accidents report nearly 13 electrocution
deaths on an average day in India.
Electrical Fire Prevention Guide
WIRE Consultancy, F-03, First floor, D-53, Red FM Marg, Sector-2, Noida-201301
www.wireconsultants.com, info@wireconsultants.com
Huge losses can happen in industrial facilities due to electrical fires and this loss could be in the form of
Fatality or death
Loss of business continuity
Business opportunity costs
Assets and production loss.
These losses have the potential to disrupt the businesses forever.
If an electrical design is in compliance with national and international standards such as IEC, NFPA, BIS, NBC etc, and equipment
are following these standard guidelines, the risk of electrical fire can be reduced. This guide considers risk of electrical fire
which may cause by overcurrent, overvoltage or overheating. This guide focuses on latest solutions to help mitigate such
hazards in both new and existing installations.
Electrical Fire Prevention Guide
WIRE Consultancy, F-03, First floor, D-53, Red FM Marg, Sector-2, Noida-201301
www.wireconsultants.com, info@wireconsultants.com
2. Area of electrical fire risk
Lack of procedures and electrical practices.
Poor electrical trainings and weak technical knowledge
Use of non-compliant equipment as per national & international
standards
Use of substandard material to achieve cost reduction
Poor workmanship and maintenance issues
Design issues
3. How to mitigate the fire risk?
Lack of procedures and electrical practices:
Fire risk is mainly found in low voltage (LV) switchgears which is due to high
intensity of normal operations, high short circuit current and temperature rise
due to various reasons. The risk of fire gets multiplied when there is a lack of
working procedures and practices for the electrical network. These risk needs
to be addressed as a part of fire risk reduction strategy.
Procedures and policies help working individuals to understand the electrical
system and provide a safe approach towards the electrical work. These
procedures and policies such as SOPS, work permits, LOTO policy, Incident
investigation reports, near & miss reports etc. shall be formulated for each
activity at electrical installation.
Electrical Fire Prevention Guide
WIRE Consultancy, F-03, First floor, D-53, Red FM Marg, Sector-2, Noida-201301
www.wireconsultants.com, info@wireconsultants.com
Poor electrical training & weak technical knowledge:
Electrical network understanding is essential when it
comes to maintaining or working on the electrical system.
The behaviour of electrical installation shall be well known
to each working individual of the facility. Fire risk can
increase up to an alarming level by not using trained
working individuals.
At an electrical distribution network fire risk can be easily
reduced by providing proper technical knowledge and
electrical trainings to each employee of the facility. The
training must be focused to reduce fire risk of the facility.
Use of non-compliant equipment and substandard material:
Use of substandard material such as cables, switchgears, protecting devices etc. could be one of the major reason of fire at
the facility. Hence equipment and products of the distribution network shall be in compliant with national and international
standards such as IEC 61439, IEC 60502, IEC 61641 and IEC 60204 etc.
Electrical Fire Prevention Guide
WIRE Consultancy, F-03, First floor, D-53, Red FM Marg, Sector-2, Noida-201301
www.wireconsultants.com, info@wireconsultants.com
Poor workmanship and maintenance issues
Electrical installations can deteriorate with time,
often due to environmental factors, such as heat
and humidity. Additionally, damage can occur
during use or as a result of corrosive chemical
reactions. Hence maintenance of electrical
system is mandatory. Poor workmanship at
electrical network can also lead to fire.
Maintenance of each electrical installation shall
be scheduled at regular interval and
management shall ensure to perform these
activities on time. Poor workmanship can be
avoided by deploying KPIs (Key performance
indicators) to the system and focusing on
process not peoples.
Design issues
Machine control panels with a high number of connections, switches and, in particular, variable speed drives, auxiliary supplies
and transformers also need to be carefully designed and manufactured to mitigate the risk of electrical fires. IP rating,
creepage distance and insulation failure could be the reason of fire at electrical network.
Designing equipment and switchboards in accordance with IEC 61439 standards ensures a proper IP level and significantly
reduces the risk of fire due to
insulation failure or excessive
temperature rise. The IEC
61439 standard sets a wide
range of requirements,
including: designing a “system”
compliant in all aspects,
checking interactions and
consistency between
switchgear and equipment,
providing protection against
electrical, mechanical and
structural hazards, and
simplifying system
maintenance and upgrading cycles.
Electrical Fire Prevention Guide
WIRE Consultancy, F-03, First floor, D-53, Red FM Marg, Sector-2, Noida-201301
www.wireconsultants.com, info@wireconsultants.com
4. Who we are & how we can help reducing fire risk?
WIRE CONSULTANCY is a well-known risk engineering & EHS solutions consultancy, catering to a diverse clientele across several
industries. Years of experience has given us immense expertise in the market and we understand the requirements of each
specific sector.
WIRE is an ESCO empanelled firm by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and awarded GREEN Energy Award by ESDA
(Environment & Social Development Association) currently operating from 5 major cities to work pan India.
WIRE has completed many prestigious projects which starts from concepts to operations. Our Expertise blends with clients’
technical requirements, resulting in spectrum of services across the lifecycle of the project – Conceptualization stage to
Decommissioning.
To reduce the fire risk at your facility we can
Develop procedures and policies specific for your facility.
Teach incident investigation techniques such as Why-why analysis and fishbone analysis.
Provide training to the employees and maintenance staff.
Will help to build training matrix for your facility.
Build maintenance schedule for each electrical installation.
Provide standard guidelines for each equipment as per national and international standards.
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