Whether you’re building a new facility from the ground up or upgrading an existing data center, understanding these challenges will help you create an efficient, future-proofed, and safe data center.

Let’s look at some of these challenges in more detail so you know what mistakes to avoid when designing or redesigning your data center.

Think personal protective equipment (PPE) isn’t needed when working in a data center? Well, you’d be wrong. PPE is often neglected in IT-related workplaces like data centers. Yet, due to the sheer amount of electrical equipment in place, using PPE can be lifesaving when working in a data center.

Data centers are highly energized facilities. As demands on data center infrastructure increase, so does the amount of electrical energy running through the facility. The average hyperscale data center consumes 20–50 megawatts (MW) each year. That’s enough to power up to 37,500 homes!

Electrical safety isn’t something to take lightly. Data centers house hundreds, if not thousands, of high-voltage, complex electrical systems. So, if there’s one place where you want to take electrical safety seriously, it’s in your data center.

Arc flash incidents pose significant risks, with the potential for sudden and intense releases of energy. The various arc flash hazard categories provide a structured framework for assessing the potential severity of such events. These categories, often expressed in terms of cal/cm² (calories per square centimetre), help quantify the thermal energy exposure at specific working distances from the arc flash source.

Arc Flash suits are used in situations where electrical systems pose a risk of releasing intense energy through an arc flash event. Commonly utilised by professionals in the electrical, utility, and industrial sectors, arc flash suits are offer multiple levels of protection categorised according to their ability to shield against thermal energy, flames, and other hazardous elements.

ELIM, which stands for " Energy Limit Value," is a term used in the context of arc flash testing and electrical safety. It represents a conservative approach to determining the protective capabilities of materials and clothing against the hazards of an arc flash event. An arc flash is a sudden release of electrical energy through the air, which can result in intense heat, light, sound, and pressure, potentially causing severe injuries or even fatalities.

Also known as a flash protection boundary, an arc flash boundary specifies the minimum safe distance from exposed energised conductors or circuit parts that have the potential for an arc flash event. It is important to take the proper steps to ensure worker safety before taking any measurements, especially on energised equipment. Workers should know exactly where the arc flash boundary is and keep this safety measure in mind at all times. 

Arc thermal performance value (ATPV) is a measurement of a material’s ability to protect a person from a burn due to exposure to incident energy resulting from an arc flash explosion.

The ATPV of a material refers to the amount of incident energy that is necessary for there to be a 50% probability for the onset of a second-degree burn for a person wearing that material when exposed to an arc flash explosion.

Skanwear, a leading provider of ARC Flash and Flame-Resistant Clothing and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), has announced its latest achievement in partnership with an industry-leading datacenter company.

Skanwear have successfully provided a Global Rollout of ARC Flash and Flame-Resistant Clothing and PPE, using inhouse brand STRATA Protection out to sites in Europe, Americas, Middle East and Asia regions, catering to over 2,000 employees globally.

Skanwear has secured a long term multi-year contract with ABB, to provide a consistent and standardised global solution to PPE Compliance, Protection and Brand Image.

This means every engineer across the 82 countries supplied is legally compliant within the country the engineer works, they have the physical protection they need for both male and female engineers to work comfortably in different climates and last but not least they represent the image of ONE global team.

Happy #INWED!

For this interview we contacted Era Shah, a CEng MICE, WES Top 50 2021, and chartered civil engineer with experience in complex high-profile rail projects. For those in the UK, have you rode the new Elizabeth Line yet? Era here supported the development!

In celebration of International Women in Engineering #ImagineTheFuture we wanted to interview inspiring senior women that are trail blazing in our industry with a plan to discuss their innovations and projects to inspire younger female engineers/apprentices of this generation, celebrate their achievements and promote overall inclusivity.

In celebration of International Women in Engineering #ImagineTheFuture we wanted to interview inspiring senior women that are trail blazing in our industry with a plan to discuss their innovations and projects to inspire younger female engineers/apprentices of this generation, celebrate their achievements and promote overall inclusivity.

For this interview we contacted Debbie Janson, CEng, MIMechE, WES Top 50 2021, Senior Lecturer and Research Engineer with a focus on womens PPE and footwear.

There are currently three different types of Arc rated flame resistant (FR) fabrics available on the market - treated inherently FR fabrics, inherently FR fabrics, and treated non-inherently FR fabrics. This is what the majority of protective arc flash clothes are made of.

Unlike those fabrics that have been specially treated, inherent fabrics do not have to undergo any type of process in order to make them flame resistant and are instead composed of fibres that are already innately flame resistant. 

These properties cannot be diminished through use or laundering, meaning that the product will remain effective and wearable for as long as the user requires it.

Across many different industries personal protective equipment (PPE) is considered to be the last line of defense, and the difference between a near miss and serious, even fatal, injury. Depending on the situation, employers are required to provide their workers with a minimum level of PPE to ensure they remain safe at all times. 

In order to make sure that the right type of PPE is issued to staff, it is important to understand the different Arc Flash PPE categories and the clothing requirements for each one of them.

By combining two or more Arc Flash garments into a layered system, it works to achieve a higher level of protection, performance, and comfort for the wearer. Additionally, layering up PPE can also greatly increase the total Arc Thermal Protective Value (ATPV) to a level greater than the sum of the individual garments.

Some engineers may think that as long as they’re wearing the correct level of arc-rated PPE, they are protected from being injured in the event of an Arc Flash occurring, but that is not always true. How a worker wears their PPE and what it’s worn with can affect the integrity of it dramatically.

Thousands of workers across the globe suffer electrical contact injuries each year, with millions more exposed to this danger on a daily basis. These incidents cost millions in insurance pay-outs and even more in lost operations. As it currently stands, there are no always-on, connected, ambient devices that detect electricity. Instead, workers have to follow lockout procedures and rely on processes to de-energize. However...

Safety in and around a Wind Turbine Generator is exacerbated for the following reasons: 

• The remoteness of most turbines to medical facilities means that any accident that may require hospitalisation can quickly turn catastrophic due to the time taken from the time of accident/injury to the time of receiving professional medical assistance.
• The confined space. Within most wind turbines, the electro-mechanical parts of a wind turbine generator are typically in very confined spaces, further compounded by multiple people being in an area at one time and exit routes often tricky to negotiate. In the event of any incident, the path of escape/exit is not straight forward.

There are millions of electricity meters across each country around the world. The quality of these meters vary from very modern installations to very old assets which are deteriorating.

One important fact:  there are certain activities undertaken by a meter operator that can only be conducted ‘live’ and it’s important if you are responsible for people working with electricity and gas meters for that matter of the inherent arc flash risks.

Anyone who has worked within the electrical services industry will be well aware of the physical dangers of an arc flash incident – around 40% are fatal. However, very few of these same workers are aware that a consequence of experiencing an electrical explosion is post-traumatic stress and even depression / anxiety.

Featured in this is a list of charities and support groups who focus on supplying engineers and construction workers with the advice, training and more. 

We have compiled this Expert Advice Sheet to provide those purchasing PPE with the information that they will need now that the UK has left the EU and the transition period finished on December 31st, 2020.

We guide you through changes in Regulations, the standards, and assessment bodies and provide an overview of the introduction of the new UKCA marking.