Based on previous statistics, it's expected that the explosive energy released during arcing faults will send more than 2,000 workers to burn centers this year. Most of these people will not have been properly warned of the magnitude of the hazard — if they're warned at all.

Although injuries from an arc blast are not as frequent as other injuries, their severity makes the costs to human life and to industry as a whole much, much greater. The monetary cost alone can easily exceed $1 million, and includes not only medical expenses, but the costs of equipment replacement, downtime and insurance.

See what happens during an arc flash in this frame-by-frame analysis of our test video.

While the potential for arc flash has existed for as long as plants have been powered by electricity, two factors have pushed arc flash prevention to the forefront.

The first is a greater understanding of arc flash hazards and the risks they pose to personnel. Research into arc flash and arc blasts, including testing conducted in Ferraz Shawmut's high-power lab, has begun to quantify the powerful forces they unleash.

The second factor is increased vigilance on the part of OSHA.

OSHA is using the requirements of NFPA 70E, the industry's consensus standard for electrical safety, to judge whether the employer "acted reasonably" in protecting its workers from arc flash hazards. In many cases, this has resulted in employers facing substantial fines after arc flash events.

Employers have always had a moral obligation to their workers to minimize the chance of catastrophic arc flashes. But never before have their financial obligations to their stockholders and their legal obligations to OSHA been as great as they are today.