Educational · For Procurement Teams

What an arc flash report
actually contains.
Section by section.

Procurement teams tender an arc flash study without knowing what a good report contains. This page is the answer. The 11 mandatory sections. The four quality markers that separate a strong report from a weak one. The four common mistakes that signal a vendor who has not done this before. Signed by a Chartered Engineer (CEng MIE FIE).

Scope Your Arc Flash Study → See the Workflow
VB engineer at an arc flash compliance walkdown at a UAE brownfield plant · cinematic field shot
VB field team at an arc flash compliance task at a UAE plant
Bilingual · ADNOC spec
• LIVE INSTALLATION · INCOMER-1
Engineered label on red INCOMER-1 panel
Blue arc-rated suit · orange hood · bilingual label affixed under witness signature
500+
Arc Flash Studies
1,000+
Power System Studies
21
Countries
12
Years · Since 2014
UAE Standards Stack

11 Mandatory Sections · Tested Across 500+ Reports.
The three layers The structure your auditor reads.

Across 500+ arc flash deliverables in 21 countries, a strong arc flash report has 11 mandatory sections. Four anchor sections give procurement immediate clarity. Seven supporting sections build the audit trail. Below: each of the 11, what it should contain, and how to evaluate it.

Section 1 · Conformance Matrix
Front-of-report mapping
Section-by-section mapping of the report to the country compliance standard (ADNOC SAES, Aramco SAES, NFPA 70E, AS/NZS 4836, etc.). Auditors read this first.
Section 2 · Executive Summary
2 pages · plain English
HSE Head-readable summary. Number of buses studied. PPE categories distributed. Critical findings. Action register at-a-glance.
Section 3 · Methodology
Calculation basis
IEEE 1584-2018 method declared. Source impedance basis. Software (ETAP, DigSILENT, PSCAD). Cross-validation approach.
Section 4 · SLD Reconciliation
As-found vs as-installed
Single-line diagram verified against the field. Drift documented. Client engineer co-signed.
Bilingual labels · what your auditor sees on every panel

Same calculation. Two languages. One audit-ready label.

ADNOC operating-company specifications mandate bilingual Arabic-English labelling on every switchgear, MCC, and transformer. Below are two real labels from a VB Engineering deliverable. The English NFPA 70E format. The Arabic WARNING format. Same incident-energy data. Equal weight. Affixed under witness signature.

English NFPA 70E DANGER arc flash label · DOUBLE BREAK ISOLATOR_1 · 1627.85 cal per cm squared EN · NFPA 70E
DOUBLE BREAK ISOLATOR_1
1627.85 cal/cm² · Dangerous
Arabic WARNING arc flash label · BUS-600 KVAR APFC Panel · 4.33 cal per cm squared · ADNOC SAES format AR · ADNOC SAES
BUS-600 KVAR APFC
4.33 cal/cm² · Category 1

Print-ready. Site-installed. Witness-signed.

Every label carries: DANGER ARC FLASH HAZARD (English top, Arabic bottom · equal weight per ADNOC specification), ATPV cal/cm² value, arc flash boundary distance, restricted approach distance, PPE category, equipment ID, study date.

Labels are printed at our Hyderabad facility, shipped to UAE, installation supervised by our on-site team. Operator option to print locally with our master files. Five-year revalidation written into the AMC retainer.

What you receive

Six deliverables. One Chartered Engineer signature.

An Arc Flash Study from VB Engineering is not a software report PDF. It is a documented engineering deliverable structured for HSE audit, insurer review, and procurement file. Every section signed CEng MIE FIE.

Power System Modelling and Arc Flash Risk Analysis · the ETAP DigSILENT model that produces the incident energy report 01

IEEE 1584-2018 Incident Energy Report

Incident energy at every working position calculated against IEEE 1584-2018 method (the 2002 method is retired in our practice). Arc flash boundary, restricted approach distance, PPE category per ATPV. Calculated in ETAP or DigSILENT, hand-verified at critical buses.

ETAPDigSILENTIEEE 1584-2018
Engineered VB warning label installed on HVAC VIVARIUM LAB 1600A panel showing 7.1 cal per cm squared with arc flash and shock boundary annotations 02

Bilingual Arabic-English Labels

Print-ready arc flash warning labels in bilingual format · English on top, Arabic below, both equal-weight per ADNOC operating-company specification. ATPV value, working distance, PPE category, equipment ID. Mounted on every switchgear, MCC, transformer.

Bilingual AR-ENADNOC spec
VB Engineering full certifications stack · ISO 45001 · ISO 9001 · chartered-engineer credentials referenced on every signed deliverable 03

SAES-E-005 Conformance Matrix

Section-by-section mapping of the study to the country dutyholder code clauses. Front-of-report submission template. Format pre-cleared with multiple ADNOC operating companies · auditors recognise the layout.

SAES-E-005Audit-ready
Data Verification and SLD Preparation · field walkdown data reconciled against legacy single line diagram before any calculation begins 04

SLD Reconciled to As-Found

Single-line diagram verified against the as-installed equipment via supervised walkdown. Drift from legacy SLD logged. The calculation accuracy is constrained by SLD accuracy · we deliver both. Client engineer co-signs reconciliation.

As-found SLDClient-verified
Data Collection and On-Site Survey · nameplate, CT and PT ratio, breaker trip-unit settings logged on tablet during the walkdown phase 05

Walkdown + Field Data Pack

Nameplate verification, CT/PT ratio confirmation, breaker trip-unit settings, cable run measurements. Every equipment item photographed and tablet-logged. The basis-of-design archive that survives staff turnover.

Field-verifiedPhoto-documented
Our methodology summary · the engineering audit trail that every Arc Flash Study deliverable opens with 06

Executive Summary + Action Register

2-page executive summary for HSE Head sign-off. Action register with categories (engineering control, PPE upgrade, procedure change, training), priority ranking, responsible discipline, target dates. The format your HSE auditor reads first.

Exec-readyAction tracker
The Workflow

Seven engineering steps. Six to eight weeks.

The Arc Flash Study workflow is methodical, technical, and signed at every gate. We are not delivering a PDF · we are delivering an engineering audit trail.

STEP 01

Site walkdown + as-found verification

Physical walkdown of every switchgear, MCC, transformer. Nameplate verification, CT/PT ratio confirmation, breaker trip-unit settings logged on tablet. Legacy SLD reconciled to field. Drift documented per equipment. Client engineer accompanies walkdown.

2-3 days siteSenior Engineer led
VB engineer + client engineer reviewing plant single-line diagram in the UTILITY MCC room · as-found verification walkdown · client-co-signed reconciliation
STEP 02

SLD reconciliation + client sign-off

Walkdown data plotted against the client SLD. Every drift logged. Client engineer co-signs the reconciled SLD before any calculation begins. This is the input-layer discipline that decides accuracy of every downstream number.

3-5 days deskClient co-signed