BETHESDA, MD – The most significant changes to the 2017 National Electrical Code® (NEC) were presented during the 2017 National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) Convention & Trade Show, Oct 7-10 in Seattle with the largest live industry audience in years.
As the most widely recognized electrical standard in the industry, the NEC is updated every three years to reflect the newest technologies and installation rules with hundreds of changes.
“Electrical installations, both in new construction and renovations are subject to compliance with NEC requirements,” said co-presenter Michael Johnston, NECA executive director standards and chair of the NEC Correlating Committee.
“Electrical contractors need to know the latest NEC revisions to attain compliance with safety installation rules that apply to the latest technologies and methods,” he said.
Johnston presented “Significant Changes to the 2017 NEC” with James Dollard, safety coordinator for the Philadelphia Electrical JATC and a master OSHA 500 instructor. The highly interactive session included detailed insights into new articles and revisions that contractors and installers alike must understand and apply in their daily operations.
In addition to many typical revisions to the NEC installation general rules, Johnston and Dollard reviewed the new detailed requirements for arc-flash warning labels for service equipment. They also delved into the new articles dealing with energy storage systems, large scale photovoltaic (PV) power production sources and DC microgrids. Although requirements for rapid shutdown features for solar photovoltaic systems installed on buildings will provide contractors with additional challenges, the NEC has become much more restrictive in this area.
As jurisdictions adopt and enforce each new edition of the NEC, Johnston said that is very important that electrical contractors and electrical workers are in tune to the latest minimum safety rules.
The presentation was based on the presenters’ co-authored textbook, “Significant Changes to the 2017 NEC.” The Electrical Training ALLIANCE (NJATC) holds the copyright for the publication available online through multiple vendors.
The National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), is the voice of the $130 billion electrical construction industry that brings power, light and communication technology to buildings and communities across the U.S Visit: http://www.necaconvention.org.
