Learn how FTI’s electrical risk management team uses ETAP to develop comprehensive electrical safe work programs

Modeled configurations and scenarios are powerful tools in ETAP. When we continually update the same facility year after year as part of a safety program, keeping mitigation solutions separate from the base model is essential. If the customer applies the mitigation, it’s simple to update the model - ETAP already has it ready.
by Ms. Jennifer Childress, Engineering Manager at FTI

The Electrical Risk Management group at FTI uses ETAP to provide short circuit, coordination, and arc flash studies to build a safety program for industrial facilities around the US and Canada. This case study describes their approach to an overall safety program and the ways that a safety program encompasses more than just an engineering study. Some topics are the need for maintenance personnel to understand the labeling, assessing the risk vs. just looking at the label, choosing between full coordination and arc flash hazard, field verification, and bolted fault current vs arcing fault current as it relates to equipment evaluation.

Faith Technologies Incorporated (FTI) specializes in electrical planning, engineering, design, construction, and installation. It is engaged in each step of the whole project life cycle: funding, initial assessments, engineering, manufacturing, installation, operating, and optimization. FTI is one of the nation’s leading industrial electrical contractors, electrical engineering systems contractors, and technology systems contractors.

Location: Menasha, Wisconsin, United States

Year: 2022

Ensure electrical safety maintenance in the industrial facilities according to OSHA, LOTO, IEEE, and NFPA standards

Challenges

Industrial facilities often undergo constant adjustments, breaker replacements, equipment changes, and expansion activities. FTI’s Electrical Risk Management (ERM) group needed a solution that could:

  • Support Electrical Risk Management programs across industrial plants
  • Develop safe work practices compliant with NFPA 70, NFPA 70E, IEEE 1584, and OSHA
  • Perform accurate short-circuit, coordination, and arc-flash analyses
  • Analyze complex electrical systems where mitigating arc flash may impact coordination - and vice versa
  • Track and evaluate live-work risk exposure, including location of live parts and accessibility
  • Maintain electrical models for customers whose equipment changes frequently
  • Provide clear, practical PPE labeling that employees can easily interpret in the field
  • Support detailed mitigation studies without altering the baseline model

Which solutions did they choose?

Selected applications

FTI uses a suite of ETAP tools, including:

  • Short Circuit Analysis
  • Arc Flash Analysis
  • Coordination & TCC Curves
  • ETAP Scenarios & Modeled Configurations
  • Study Wizard workflows
  • Digital Twin Modeling for long-term client programs
These tools support both construction-phase engineering and long-term ERM safety programs.

 

Why do they use ETAP?

Main customer benefits

1. A robust electrical safe work program built on accurate ETAP models

FTI uses ETAP to analyze equipment ratings, evaluate coordination, and determine arc-flash hazards across continuously evolving industrial environments. Their six-step ERM workflow - from field visit to training - is anchored in ETAP analysis. 

2. Clear decision-making for coordination vs arc-flash mitigation

As demonstrated in the transcript, choosing between faster breakers (lower arc flash) and slower breakers (better coordination) depends on:
  • Frequency of live work
  • Criticality of downstream equipment
  • Severity of potential outages
  • ETAP helps evaluate both sides objectively

3. Real-world mitigation results

In one case, a recommended faster breaker prevented a second major event just six months after the first - dramatically reducing incident severity.

4. Advanced ETAP workflows improve speed and consistency

FTI relies heavily on:
  • Scenarios to test mitigation without altering the main model
  • Modeled configurations to evaluate multiple utility conditions
  • Study Wizards to run dozens of analyses in batch

This ensures accuracy, repeatability, and time savings for annual re-evaluations.

5. High-quality safety labeling that improves field usability

FTI produces labels that include:
  • Arc-flash energy
  • Required PPE
  • The true lockout/tagout source, not just the upstream device
  • Bolted fault current (critical for equipment replacement decisions)

This clarity helps technicians understand risks quickly.

6. Comprehensive training for customer teams

FTI engineers return to each facility to:
  • Review reports with the customer
  • Apply labels
  • Provide in-depth training on safe work practices
  • Explain PPE selection and lockout processes
The program creates a sustainable safety culture within the facility.

 

What do they think about ETAP?

Customer perspectives

We built an Electrical Risk Management process that focuses not just on NFPA 70E and IEEE 1584, but also OSHA expectations. ETAP allows us to analyze all scenarios and communicate clear mitigation paths. ETAP’s scenario and configuration tools help us manage safety programs year after year. Whether we’re balancing arc flash vs coordination or labeling complex equipment, consistency and reliability are key - and ETAP provides that.
By Ms. Jennifer Childress, Engineering Manager at FTI


Videos

Industrial Plant Electrical Risk Management Program

The Electrical Risk Management (ERM) group at FTI uses ETAP to provide short circuit, coordination, and arc flash studies as a part of building a safety program for industrial facilities around the US and Canada. This presentation will describe our approach to an overall safety program and the ways that a safety program encompasses more that just an engineering study. Some topics to be discussed are the need for maintenance personnel to understand the labeling, assessing the risk vs. just looking at the label, the choice between full coordination and arc flash hazard, field verification, and bolted fault current vs arcing fault current as it relates to equipment evaluation. We will look at the ETAP model of one of our industrial customers and discuss the benefits of using ETAP for our studies – reliability, adaptability to many systems by using configurations and scenarios, wizards, availability of DC and MV calculations, Star TCCs, ease of exporting reports to Excel, and solar and wind sources capability.


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