Contractors’
CodeLetter
Volume 9, Issue 2, April 2004
Published by NECA Standards & Safety
NECA tells ICC: discontinue electrical code
T
he National Electrical Contractors
Association (NECA) has submitted
two public comments supporting discontinuance of the ICC Electrical Code. The
comments were sent to the International Code
Council and will be voted upon at upcoming
code-change hearings in Kansas City, this
May.
The electrical code published by ICC isn’t
actually a complete book of wiring rules.
Instead, it is a set of administrative procedures describing how to adopt and enforce
the National Electrical Code (ANSI/NFPA
70-2002). However, the ICC-EC also contains several technical provisions that differ
from the requirements of the National
Electrical Code. NECA’s public comments
would correct both of these situations:
• Change Title. NECA’s first comment
InsideThisIssue:
NECA calls for withdrawal
of ICC electrical code . . . . . . . . . .1
NECA stands up for AFCIs . . . . . . .1
OSHA official addresses
NECA meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
NEIS for generators announced . . .2
NECA improves safety website . . .2
Grounding safety research project . .3
NECA advises NY against IRC . . . .3
Code Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
CPSC product recalls . . . . . . . . . .4
InBrief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
changes the title of the ICC Electrical
Code to ‘ICC Electrical Administrative
Provisions.’ It also deletes chapter 12
on electrical wiring rules.
• Change References. NECA’s second
comment replaces all references to
‘ICC Electrical Code’ in ICC’s other
building codes with references to
‘NFPA 70.’
Although it has been published since
1999, practically no jurisdictions have adopted the ICC-EC for regulatory use. That’s
hardly surprising, according to Brooke
Stauffer, NECA’s executive director of standards and safety.
“Basically, it’s an exceptions document,”
he explains. “People use the ICC-EC as a
backdoor method to change wiring rules
without going through the more demanding
consensus procedures of the National
Electrical Code.”
ICC codes aren’t consensus documents,
since their procedures don’t meet American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) minimum requirements for openness and transparency. Engineers, contractors, product testing laboratories, and other interests are all
excluded from ICC’s standards-making
process. There are no electrical experts on
the subcommittee responsible for the ICC
Electrical Code.
NECA supports the use of ANSIapproved codes and standards, such as the
National Electrical Code, for regulatory use.
NECA stands up for AFCIs
The National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) has submitted comments to
legislative committees in Michigan and South Carolina, urging them to retain requirements for AFCI protection of bedroom receptacles in their state electrical codes. Costcutting pressure from homebuilders’ associations in both states led to proposals to delete
the AFCI protection required by the National Electrical Code, when constructing new
homes.
Arc-fault circuit interrupters (AFCIs) protect against a type of electrical fault that circuit breakers and fuses don’t guard against very well. One example would be a frayed
lamp cord that exposes some of the copper wire inside, which then creates a low-energy electrical arc with a nearby piece of grounded metal. Another would be a dangerously loose electrical connection.
Both situations can result in ‘arcing faults’ (electricity jumping through the air) that
may not create overloads of sufficient magnitude to trip a circuit breaker or blow a fuse.
However, even low-energy arcs have the ability to ignite flammable materials such as
paper or curtains. The National Electrical Code requires that AFCIs be used to protect
circuits in residential bedrooms, because fires kill sleeping people more often than those
who are awake and alert.
The 2002 National Electrical Code requires that circuits serving bedrooms of newlyconstructed houses, condominiums, and apartments be protected by AFCIs. There is no
rule requiring that existing residences be retrofitted with the devices.
Contractors’
CodeLetter
2
OSHA official addresses NECA on benefits of
alliances and partnerships
Paula O. White, Director of Cooperative
and State Programs at the U.S. Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA),
addressed the National Electrical Contractors
Association’s (NECA) spring chapter managers meeting on the benefits of OSHA
alliances and partnerships. NECA and OSHA
signed a national alliance agreement in
August 2003.
In addition, NECA’s Central Ohio,
Northern New Jersey, and Southeastern Line
Constructors chapters have all entered into
local OSHA alliances of their own. The goal of
all these alliances is cooperating to improve
jobsite safety, reduce lost workdays and
address and eliminate the “OSHA fear factor.”
OSHA’s industry alliance program represents a partial shift away from an adversarial
enforcement stance to a more cooperative
relationship that emphasizes the safety benefits of employee training and employer’s selfinspecting their jobsites.
In her speech at the Association
Executives Institute (AEI) meeting, held
February 29 - March 2 in Los Angeles, White
explained the benefits of alliances as improving safety while saving contractors money.
Many alliances have resulted in fewer lost
workdays, which in turn reduces workers
compensation claims and electrical contractor insurance costs—often in time frames as
short as two years, said White.
Residential generator standard is latest
from NECA
NECA has just published NECA 406-2003,
Standard for Installing
Residential Generator
Sets (ANSI). It covers
generators permanently
installed at one-family
dwellings to provide
backup power, and
fueled by gasoline, natural gas, or LP gas.
NECA 406 is the twenty-fourth volume of
the National Electrical Installation
Standards series of publications. NEIS are
the first performance standards for electrical
construction. They define what is meant by
installing electrical products and systems in a
neat and workmanlike manner, extending
and supplementing the minimum safety
requirements of the National Electrical Code.
“Our members are installing more home
backup generators than ever,” observes Pearl
Parker, NECA’s manager of standards and
safety publications, “so we’ve developed a
standard describing the best practices for
doing so.” Installation procedures for dieselfueled generators that supply larger commercial buildings (including multifamily
dwellings) are covered in a different NEIS,
NECA 404-2000.
Ordering information. NECA 406-2003
is priced at $30 with NECA-member and
quantity discounts available. Contact the
NECA Order Desk at (301) 215-4504 tel,
(301) 215-4500 fax, or orderdesk@
necanet.org. Provide your name, company,
mailing address and NECA member number
(where applicable). All orders must be prepaid by check or credit card. NECA 4062003 is also available in downloadable .PDF
format from www.neca-neis.org/standards.
Is NFPA 5000 in California to stay?
In July 2003, the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC), by an 8-to-2 vote,
adopted NFPA 5000 Building Construction Code and NFPA 1 Uniform Fire Code. The
Commission’s decision made it mandatory for California jurisdictions to bring their local regulations in line with NFPA’s new building code.
While several groups including California firefighters’ associations strongly supported
NFPA 5000, other interests favored adopting a competing series of building codes published
by the International Codes Council (ICC).
Consulting-Specifying Engineer magazine suggests that the building code adoption story
may be far from over in California, and that new governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may be
ready to re-evaluate the whole situation. To read senior editor Scott Siddens’ article on the
subject, visit www.csemag.com/magazine/articles/cse0312lCode.asp
Construction industry is hotbed
of activity
In addition to alliances, OSHA also enters
into more formal safety partnerships with
particular companies and industry segments.
NECA is close to signing an agreement for a
transmission and distribution strategic partnership intended to reduce serious injuries
and fatalities in the line construction industry
(high-voltage utility type construction).
OSHA’s Paula White identified power
transmission, generation, and distribution as a
particular area of concentration for the
agency, due to the high rate of injuries and
fatalities. Construction is the most active area
in OSHA’s alliance-partnership effort, she
said. There are currently 11 active construction industry alliances and over 100 partnerships.
Improvements to
NECA safety site
NECA has redesigned the Safety pages
of its website to provide more information
and make them more user-friendly. The
revisions provide more comprehensive
information about OSHA regulations and
safety practices in the electrical construction industry, and make it easier for visitors to find the information they’re looking for. Specific improvements to
www.necanet.org/safety include:
• What’s New @ Safety delivers upto-the-minute developments in electrical construction safety.
• NECA members and the general
public. A new archive of safety
columns from Electrical Contractor
magazine is, all by itself, a comprehensive new resource of safety “best
practices” information.
• Expanded subpages on “Safety
Publications and Software” and
“Training Courses” explain the information available on NECA safety
resources for electrical contractors.
For a tour of NECA’s newly expanded
online Safety pages, visit www.necanet.
org and click on “Safety” in the green
border on the left. The Safety pages are
available to both NECA members and
non-members.
Contractors’
CodeLetter
3
Electrical Contracting Foundation to research
grounding safety practices
T
The Electrical
Contracting Foundation (EFC) has
begun a research
project to identify
the safest and most
effective means of
grounding mobile construction equipment
used in construction and maintenance of
high-voltage utility power lines and facilities
(often called “line construction”). The
research will be conducted by the University
of Kansas.
Working on and around conductors energized at thousands of volts creates special
safety challenges not seen in other types of
electrical contracting work. These include
arcing hazards and induced voltages in nearby electrical objects. Sometimes these
include mobile construction equipment such
as cranes, bucket trucks, digging derricks,
.
etc. High-voltage arcing can result in death
or serious injury to equipment operators and
other construction personnel, in addition to
destroying equipment.
Currently no consensus
While most electric utilities and line contractors require mobile equipment to be
grounded when operating around high-voltage lines, there are different ways to do this.
At present there is no consensus on which
grounding techniques are most effective in
protecting personnel against arcing and electrocution.
“Line contractors wanted to research the
problem of mobile equipment grounding in
order to reduce accidents due to these factors,” says Walter Parkes. “We think some
accidents are a result of different soil conditions, and must find a way to improve safety
for our people in all parts of the country.”
CodeCalendar
Upcoming meetings of interest to the codes & standards community:
Apr 15-16
NFPA Standards Council, Baltimore, MD
Apr 19-21
NFPA Telecommunications, Dallas, TX
Apr 19-21
NFPA 110, Emergency Power Supplies, Nashville, TN
Apr 21-22
NFPA 99, Health Care Facilities—Electrical
Systems, Nashville, TN
May 3-4
NFPA 72, Protected Premises Fire Alarm Systems,
Cincinnati, OH
May 11-12
NFPA 72, Supervising Station Fire Alarm Systems,
Chicago, IL
May 17-18
NFPA 72, Household Fire Alarm Systems, Orlando, FL
May 23-26
NFPA World Safety Congress and Exposition, Salt
Lake City, UT
Jul 13-14
NEC Technical Correlating Committee, San
Francisco, CA
Jul 19-23
NFPA 79, Electrical Equipment of Industrial
Machinery, Portland, ME
The CEO of O’Connell Electric Company
Inc. in Victor, New York, Parkes is also a
NECA district vice president.
The end result of the ECF safety research
project will be a recommended industry practice for effectively grounding mobile construction equipment during construction and
maintenance operations. It will be released
as part of the National Electrical Installation
Standards (NEIS)® published by NECA.
Grounding research process
Due to the complexity of the project and
the need to involve stakeholders including
electric utilities, mobile equipment manufacturers, insurance companies, engineering
societies, and line contracting companies, the
construction equipment grounding project
has been structured in three phases. The project is scheduled to take about three years to
complete.
Don’t use IRC, NECA
advises NY State
NECA has submitted three code-change
proposals to the New York Division of Code
Enforcement and Administration, which is
reviewing the state’s building codes. The
related proposals update regulatory references to the National Electrical Code, and
delete all mentions of the International
Residential Code (IRC). The IRC has serious
defects, NECA told the New York State codes
division:
The IRC doesn’t contain wiring rules
for common residential electrical
equipment such as air conditioners,
electric heat, and communications
wiring.
Using the IRC electrical chapters will
cause confusion and construction delays, since
electricians, contractors, and inspectors are all
trained to the National Electrical Code, and
have been using it throughout their careers.
NECA’s change proposals recommend
that the New York’s building code reference
the current 2002 National Electrical Code,
and delete the current electrical chapters from
the IRC. The proposals were submitted by
NECA on behalf of The Electrical Coalition,
an industry group that supports use of the
National Electrical Code as the national standard for safe wiring practices.
Contractors’
CodeLetter
4
CPSC electrical product recalls
The following electrical construction products have been recalled in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC):
Cordless drill chargers: Wagner Spray Tech Corporation has recalled the charger base for eight models of cordless drills because a defective battery can cause the charger base to overheat, melt and possibly burn nearby objects. The company has received 11 reports of the charger base melting
and causing minor property damage, but no injuries have been reported.
The units recalled include 9.6-volt, 10.8-volt, 12-volt, 14.4- volt and 18-volt drill charger bases. The drills were colored black and grey, and have
the name “Wagner” printed on them. Model numbers involved in the recall are: W96DK, W108DK, W120DK, WB96, WB120, WB144, and
WB180K; model numbers are located on a label on the side of the drill. These cordless rechargeable electric drills, manufactured in China, were sold
in department and hardware stores and through mail-order sales from January 1996 through December 2003 for between $40 and $100.
Purchasers should stop using the charger base and contact Wagner Spray Tech toll-free at (800) 214-0585 anytime, or visit www.wagnerspraytech.com, to obtain a replacement.
Fluorescent luminaires: Progress Lighting has announced the recall of about 11,000 fluorescent lighting fixtures that contain faulty lampholders which
can overheat, causing the fixture to melt or burn. The company has received four reports of fixtures overheating and burning, including one report of a fire
causing smoke damage.
This recall involves linear light fixtures intended for use in bathrooms. These luminaires, manufactured in the U.S. and Mexico, were sold in 2-, 3and 4-foot lengths with a ribbed plastic lens covering the fluorescent tube. The Progress Lighting catalog numbers are 717430-EBO, 717330-EBO
and 717230-EBO. Catalog numbers and manufacturing dates can be found on the UL label located under the plastic lens.
Fixtures included in this recall were manufactured from January 1998 through February 2003. They were sold at lighting and electrical supply distributors (and home improvement stores by special order) from January 1998 through April 2003 for between $225 and $270.
Purchasers should contact Progress Lighting toll-free at (800) 447-0573 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday, or visit
www.progresslighting.com, to obtain a replacement.
InBRIEF
Schneider North America names new CEO
David D. Petratis has been named president and CEO of the Schneider Electric North American
Operating Division, which includes Square D Company. In 1986, he became the youngest plant manager in the company’s history at the Raleigh, NC facility. In December of 2002, Petratis was appointed
president and chief operating officer of the company’s U.S. operations, coordinating business activities
with country managers in Canada and Mexico.
Joint recall website for CPSC, other agencies
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has launched a new website devoted exclusively to product recalls. The site, www.recalls.gov, is a joint effort between CPSC and four other federal regulatory agencies—the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Environmental
Protection Association (EPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and U.S. Coast Guard.
UL opens fiber optic test lab
Underwriters Laboratories Inc. has opened a 6600-square-foot laboratory dedicated to performance
verification of optical fiber products in Melville, NY. The new lab houses state-of-the-art equipment
that can provide any fiber optic safety or performance verification service requested by customers. For
more information contact Dave Burkart at (617) 271-6200, ext. 22205 or david.j.burkart@us.ul.com.
UL’s Electrical Council holds annual meeting
UL’s Electrical Council met at the recent annual meeting of Underwriters Laboratories Inc., held
March 24-26 in Chantilly, VA (near Washington, DC). Formed in 1913 to advise UL on safety requirements for electrical equipment and materials, Council members include chief electrical inspectors and
representatives of standards-setting organizations such as NECA, NFPA, and NEMA.
NECA standards director addresses VDV conference
Brooke Stauffer, NECA’s executive director of standards and safety, gave an educational presentation about two new standards for premises security systems at the annual Voice-Data-Video Expo, held
March 8-11 in Las Vegas. NFPA 730, Guide for Premises Security, and NFPA 731, Standard for
Installation of Electronic Premises Security Systems represent an expansion of the National Fire
Protection Association’s historic mission beyond fire and life safety and into performance of other types
of electrical-electronic systems including access control, intrusion detection, closed-circuit TV, and
hold-up duress.
Contractors’
CodeLetter
Published four times a year by:
National Electrical Contractors
Association
3 Bethesda Metro Center, Suite 1100
Bethesda, MD 20814
(301) 657-3110 tel
(301) 215-4500 fax
Brooke Stauffer, Executive Director,
Standards & Safety
William G. Dale, Chairman, NECA
Codes and Standards Committee
Ginger Wilson, Production Coordinator
Copyright © 2004 National
Electrical Contractors
Association
National Electrical Installation Standards®
and NEIS® are registered trademarks of the
National Electrical Contractors Association.
National Electrical Code and NEC are
registered trademarks of the National Fire
Protection Association, Quincy, MA 02269.
®
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