The Con Edison Story

Con Edison of New York recently spent multiple years and several million dollars doing testing to examine the protective performance of a wide variety of safety equipment, including protective clothing. Con Edison’s testing was revolutionary in that they performed it outside of laboratory conditions and were able to simulate real world underground vault and overhead scenarios. Con Edison opened the doors to the testing facility and information generated for other electric utility companies, energy companies and electrical contractors to learn and help become educated on the dangers of an electric arc flash and how to better protect their employees.

This unprecedented test series was a major advancement forward in understanding the severe nature of an electric arc flash. The testing also uncovered additional elements not seen in laboratory testing; including underground confined exposures, overhead exposures and molten metal exposure from equipment.