The Miami-Dade County [Florida] Building Code and Product
Review Committee became the first governmental entity in the
country to accept NECA’s National Electrical Installation
Standards™ for regulatory use, in November 1999. The
Committee adopted the first three published NEIS™ into
the South Florida Building Code as official references for
methods of construction.
NECA’s South Florida Chapter spearheaded
the first NEIS regulatory adoption, acting in cooperation with
the IBEW and leading area electrical inspectors, who have been
strong supporters of NECA’s quality standards for electrical
construction.
"The chapter sponsored creation of a
Chief Electrical Inspectors Council several years ago,"
explains chapter manager Walter Bost. "That’s where we
first started promoting the idea of having Metro-Dade and
Broward counties endorse the NECA installation standards.
Getting them included in the building code just seemed to make
sense, the same way that NEC Article 800 references
other industry standards as guides for neat and workmanlike
installation."
Bost credits three individuals in
particular with helping turn the concept into a reality. Eddie
Woodward of Anchor Electric Company Inc., president of NECA’s
South Florida Chapter; Art Fernandez, business agent of IBEW
Local 349; and John Travers, chief electrical inspector for
the City of Hialeah all played major roles in the adoption
process.
Fernandez serves on the Construction
Products Approval Board, and Woodward testified in favor of
adopting the National Electrical Installation Standards.
Travers is former president of the Florida Chapter of
International Association of Electrical Inspectors.
"I believe this just shows that we can
accomplish a lot when our industry pulls together on an
important issue," Bost observes. "With NECA, IBEW
and IAEI all singing from the same page, we had a strong
three-fronted campaign supporting the cause of electrical
construction quality and safety in South Florida."
The Miami-Dade County Building Code and
Product Review Committee action last month covers the first
three NECA standards published—301 on fiber optics, 400 on
switchboards, and 500 on commercial interior lighting. NECA’s South Florida Chapter has already proposed that the
most recent standards (100 on electrical symbols and 502 on
industrial lighting) be adopted as well.
"From this point forward, we plan to
recommend that Miami-Dade County approve each new NEIS standard as they’re published," says chapter manager
Walter Bost.
NEIS in Print
There are currently five
published National Electrical Installation Standards. For more
information, contact NECA Codes and Standards at (301)
215-4521 tel, (301) 215-4500 fax, or neis@neca net.org. Or
visit our website at www.neca-neis.org.
• ANSI/NECA 100-1999,
"Symbols for Electrical Construction Drawings"
(ANSI)
• NECA/FOA 301-1997,
"Standard for Installing and Testing Fiber Optic
Cables"
• NECA 400-1998,
"Recommended Practice for Installing and Maintaining
Switchboards (ANSI)"
• NECA/IESNA 500-1998,
"Recommended Practice for Installing Indoor Commercial
Lighting Systems (ANSI)"
• NECA/IESNA 502-1999, "Recommended
Practice for Installing Industrial Lighting Systems
(ANSI)"
Brooke Stauffer is director of codes and standards for
the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) in
Bethesda, Maryland |
