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, orneis@necanet.org. Or visit our website atwww.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)”