CSA Z462-2021 Standard

This blog is a continuation of the one published in 2020 on the probable changes of the CSA Z462 standard in 2021, related to the changes of the American standard NFPA 70E 2021. Following the release of the new version of the CSA Z462-21 standard, the first important point is that the revision of the CSA Z462 standard does not consider the changes of the NFPA 70E 2021 standard. The 2021 version of the CSA Z462 is therefore a revised version of CSA Z462-2018 (based on NFPA 70E 2018).

Here are the significant changes of the 2021 version of the CSA Z462 standard:

• The voltage level requiring shock resistant protection remained unchanged for AC (at 30 V), but has risen to 60 V for DC, which is good news. This excludes telephone lines, telecommunication in factories and the like, that are less than 60 V DC. The American standard remained at 50 V DC.
• The incident energy label allows you to put down the energy value calculated by the engineer or one of the two methods below (3) and 4)), but not both.
• A new method (table V.1) has been integrated to determine the categories of PPE according to the type of equipment (panel, CCM or other), the value of the nominal voltage and the upstream equipment (transformer, fuse, or circuit breaker).
• Tables 6A and 6B still exist although the previous method (Table V.1) has emerged. Table 6A received several changes in the categories including category 5 (discussed in point 5) which was added.
• Table 6C on protection categories now has a new category: Category 5. Category 5 must consist of an arc-rated coverall that is resistant to a minimum of 75 cal./cm². This category was originally designed in the 2004 version of the NPFA 70E standard but subsequently abandoned. The version of this category proposed in 2004 went up to 100 cal./cm². Otherwise, in table 6C, high visibility clothing has been added similarly to the addition made to the 2021 version of the NPFA 70E.

Finally, do not hesitate to contact us if you need to update your electrical safety program, training program, incident energy study, or any other service we offer.