In 2012, the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) changed the way personal protective equipment is rated. Instead of only having a Flame-Resistant (FR) rating, now there’s an Arc Flash rating as well (denoted as AR, which stands for “Arc Rated”). This change evidently came about for a reason: in recent years, there has been a staggering increase in the number of arc flash incidents in the workplace, with many resulting in fatalities.

Although this type of hazard affects many workers each year, what an arc flash? An arc flash occurs when an electrical current jumps from the desired electrical path, and travels through the air from one conductor to another. When this happens, anyone who is in the path of the discharge, or nearby, can become badly injured – or, frighteningly, even killed.