s tandards ı t. david mills

Participate in the Process . . .

As engineers, we needto be involved in thestandards-making pro-cess for other standardsthat have an impact on

our electrical engineering world. Oneparticularly important standard is theNational Fire Protection Association(NFPA) Standard, NFPA 70, theNational Electrical Code. Althoughthe name may imply that it is strictlya standard for the United States, it isviewed as a reference of good practicein many countries around the world.

The code is revised every three years,so the most recent 2008 version is al-ready up for revision in 2011. We cannotwait until 2011 to make the changes, sothe process starts as soon as the first2008 edition was published in the fall of2007. From then until 5:00 p.m. on7 November 2008, the public has anopportunity to propose changes to thecode. After this deadline, the NFPA staffwill sort through the proposals andassign them to the panels responsible forthe specific sections of the code. Thepanels will meet in January 2009 toreview each proposal and develop a panelaction and statement for ballot by thepanel in February 2009 and subse-quently for publication in the Report onProposals (ROP) in July 2009.

The public review process reopensfollowing the publication of the ROP,but with the condition that com-ments must be focused on previouslysubmitted proposals; new proposalscannot be made at this stage. Thispart of the process ends at 5:00 p.m.on 23 October 2009, after which thestaff and panels prepare the Report onComments (ROC), which is pub-lished in March 2010. Short of anyextenuating circumstances, the finalversion of the code will be presented

to the general membership at theannual meeting in June 2010. TheNFPA membership votes on the finalversion and after scrutiny from theTechnical Coordinating Committee,the true final version is approved andsent to the publisher for a fall 2010first printing. Then, the process startsover for the 2014 Code.

So, how can you participate? Thereare several areas in the code affectingengineering activities where you maywant to at least have a say in whatchanges are considered.

One such area is selective coordi-nation. This engineering requirementhas long been a part of Article 240 forovercurrent protection devices and ismentioned in a fine print note inArticle 230 related to ground faultprotection for services. The require-ments evolved with the revisions inthe code. It was the change made in2005 that modified and moved thedefinition of coordination to the defi-nitions in Article 100, indicating ap-plicability beyond Article 240, whichtriggered controversy. It was this setof changes that required coordinationfor overcurrent, not just fault, situationsas well as for emergency and legallyrequired systems of Articles 700.27 and701.18, respectively. However, furtherimprovements were made in 2008,where a new Article 708, Critical Oper-ations Power Systems, also includedselective coordination requirements.

Electric power engineers have alwaysfavored selective coordination, but withthe understanding that coordinationand protection were often competingobjectives and engineering judgmentwas required to arrive at a satisfactorycompromise. Many of our IEEEstandards addressing industrial andcommercial power systems allow fora balance between perfect coordina-tion and perfect system protection

using terms such as ‘‘best compro-mise’’ and ‘‘as far as practicable’’ toprovide the educated and capable engi-neer the flexibility to adjust to thespecific situation. The new code re-quirements appear to some to imposeabsolute mandates that fail to accountfor the inherent conflicts between theselective coordination and protection.Does the code now take away engineer-ing judgment and replace it with anuntenable requirement?

The selective coordination issue isjust one example of code provisionsthat may need to be reexamined. If youthink that this is the case, by all meansparticipate in the standards-makingprocess by submitting a proposal priorto the 7 November deadline.

How do you submit a proposal tothe 2011 National Electrical Code?The NFPA has made it really easy forjust about anyone to make their voiceheard in the code-making process byproviding a multimedia opportunity.

First, there is the old traditionalmethod of paper submission using aform that can be downloaded from theNFPA Web site and filled in by hand.Then, either mail or fax the completedform to the address at the bottom ofthe form. The URL for the form ishttp://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/PDF/CodesStandards/2011NECProposalform.pdf. Alternatively, you can e-mail thecompleted form to proposals_comments@nfpa.org.

One particularly easy way to sub-mit a proposal is by the online sub-mission process, which is located athttp://submissions.nfpa.org/onlinesub/onsubmain.php.

Remember, the deadline for all meth-ods of proposal submission is 5:00 p.m.on Friday, 7 November 2008.

I hope this information was help-ful and even provoking just to getyou to participate in the process. IASDigital Object Identifier 10.1109/MIAS.2008.927536

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