The National Electrical Safety Code (NESC)
and the National Electrical Code (NEC) are
both examples of industry standards. These two standards
are very important to most IAEI members because we use
one or both of them every day. Though these two
standards are prominent in our minds, there are
thousands of other industry standards that have a
significant effect on us each day. Did you know that
there are industry standards that cover everything from
toilet paper to topsoil? For those standards, see
American Society for Testing and Materials, ASTM D3905
and D5268. In these two examples, the standards
organization, the organization that administered the
development of the standard, is ASTM. There are hundreds
of standards organizations that develop America’s
industry standards. The National Fire Protection
Association (NFPA) is the standards organization for the NEC. The Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers (IEEE) is the standards organization for the
NESC.
Some industry standards establish
standard physical properties of products. For example,
IEEE standard C57.12.26 establishes electrical and
physical properties of three -phase pad-mounted
transformers. Some industry standards establish testing
requirements. For example, IEEE standard C57.12.90 is
the industry standard test code for liquid-immersed
transformers. IEEE standard 4 establishes standard
techniques for high voltage testing. Some industry
standards establish minimum safety requirements. For
example, ASTM standard F963 is a consumer safety
specification for toy safety. Some industry standards
are guides or recommended practices. For example, IEEE
standard C57.91 is a guide for loading of transformers.
IEEE standard 142 is a recommended practice for
grounding of industrial and commercial power systems.
Some industry standards establish application,
protection, maintenance, or safety standards. For
example, IEEE standard 1036 is a guide for the
application of shunt power capacitors. IEEE standard
C37.99 is a guide for the protection of power
transformers. IEEE standard 902 is a guide for the
maintenance, operation, and safety of industrial and
commercial power systems.
ANSI
Some of the industry standards have been accepted by the
American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as American
national standards. For a particular industry standard
to be accepted by ANSI, the development process of the
standard must comply with ANSI’s strict requirements.
Some of these requirements include: The standards
organization meetings must be open to the public. The
public must be encouraged by the standards organization
to review the proposed standard and develop change
proposals. For new standards, the proposed standard must
be made available to the public for review. For existing
standards, all change proposals must be made available
to the public by the standards organization. The public
must be allowed adequate time to respond back to the
standards organization with comments and arguments for
or against the change proposals. The standards
organization is required to consider the comments and
change proposals developed by the public. Industry
standards that are accepted by ANSI are designated by
the acronym ANSI followed by the acronym of the
standards organization, the standard number and the year
the standards organization approved the standard; i.e.,
ANSI/IEEE Std 101-1987. Note that the approval of the
standard as an American national standard usually lags
the approval by the standards organization by as much as
a year. For example, ANSI/IEEE Std 101-1987 was approved
by the IEEE standards board on September 10, 1987. ANSI
approved it on February 19, 1988. IEEE published the
standard in 1988.
Voluntary Vs
Mandatory Standards
Most industry standards are identified in their
forewords as voluntary standards. However, in most
states, the electric supply facilities owned and
maintained by electric utilities are required by law to
comply with the NESC. In most states, electrical
facilities not owned by electric utilities are required
by law to comply with the NEC. Within the NESC,
some of the references to industry standards are within
footnotes. Footnotes within the NESC are designated by
"NOTE:". As indicated in Rule 015F, material
provided in footnotes is supplied for information or
illustration purposes only and is not considered part of
the NESC requirements. The industry standards that are
referenced within the NESC rules are considered part of
the NESC to the extent indicated in the rules. Section
3, page 14, is a listing of all the industry standards
referenced in the NESC. Section 3 also lists the rule
numbers that reference each standard. Within the NEC,
all references to industry standards are in the fine
print notes. Fine print notes within the NEC are
designated by "(FPN):". As indicated in NEC 90.5(C), page 70-31, fine print notes are for
informational purposes and are not considered
requirements of the NEC. Annex A, page 70-631, is
a listing of product safety standards. Again, the list
is not part of the requirements of the NEC but it
is a good index to product standards. Though most
industry standards are voluntary, they are usually
considered examples of good engineering practice when it
comes to litigation. In other words, you don’t have to
comply with them until you get dragged into court. Maybe
that is why most product manufacturers comply with the
industry standards for their products.
If you have any general questions
about the NESC, please e-mail me at dave.young@conectiv.com
National Electrical Safety Code and
NESC are registered trademarks of the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). National
Electrical Code and NEC are registered
trademarks of the National Fire Protection Association
(NFPA).
Dave is a consulting engineer with Conectiv Power Delivery of
Wilmington, Delaware where he has been working with and teaching all
aspects of the NESC for over 32 years. He is a member of the NESC
Interpretations Subcommittee and represents the Edison Electric
Institute on the NESC Overhead Line Clearances Subcommittee 4. Dave is
also vice-chairman of the Delmarva Division of the Chesapeake Chapter of
the IAEI.
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