The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has released its proposed rule for heat injury and illness prevention, which includes specific requirements that employers must have in place to be in compliance. For more information on this regulation, please visit www.osha.gov/heat-exposure/rulemaking. 

Article 100 of the National Electrical Code defines a transformer as equipment, either single-phase or polyphase, that uses electromagnetic induction to convert current and voltage in a primary circuit into current and voltage in a secondary circuit. Transformers are general-use equipment and are required to follow the general provisions in the NEC, and specifically the rules in Article 450. Transformers are typically provided with a nameplate that meets the requirements in 450.11(A). These data nameplates usually include current values, but this is not a required marking.

How well do you know the documentation requirements of 2022 NFPA 72? Take this quiz and test your knowledge. 

Every technical field has its confusing jargon or enigmatic technology, and fiber optics is no exception. Let’s test your knowledge of the most commonly misunderstood principles.

In the National Electrical Code, electrical wiring rules for healthcare facilities are often more restrictive than general wiring requirements in chapters 1–4. Many of these restrictive requirements center around redundancy of systems and continuity of power. For example, the branch circuits serving patient care spaces require two separate equipment grounding conductors in compliance with Section 517.13. The idea is to install a minimum of two, and thus always be assured of having one.

Although heat detectors are not used in the majority of fire alarm systems, it is a good idea to understand the applications and requirements. Test your knowledge to see how well you know them.

Every contractor knows to call 811 before starting work on an underground cable plant installation, but that’s not all. The Excavation Safety Alliance’s “Pre-Excavation Checklist” is included in its Excavation Safety Guide and Directory, which I used as a reference for this month’s quiz.

May is a busy month for safety. From mental health awareness to electrical safety, professionals across the board are busy addressing safety and training for employers and employees. From May 6–10, we celebrated Construction Safety Week and the OSHA National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction. Test yourself below on a variety of safety issues. And to all safety professionals, thank you for all you do to protect our construction employees.

Structured cabling in building communications has been driven mainly by one network—ethernet—which has become the most widespread network standard. Ethernet turned 50 last year, making it an appropriate time to review how it was created and how it has driven the development of cabling.

Everyone should be familiar with emergency management systems and response. OSHA will be releasing new emergency management response regulations in the near future. How much do you know about this topic?

Natural disasters wreak havoc with communications networks because they can cause widespread damage to cable plants and communications systems. Restoration can be a time-consuming and expensive process. Can advance planning help mitigate the problems?

Many NEC requirements for equipment marking and identification directly relate to personnel safety and establishing electrically safe working conditions as addressed in NFPA 70E. It seems that requirements for “in sight from” equipment disconnects are often followed by exceptions that allow disconnects to be remote, but they must be lockable in the open position. Test your knowledge here.

Test your knowledge of the requirements for emergency communications systems in the 2022 NFPA 72.

For a fiber optic link to work, all fibers need to be connected properly—otherwise known as polarity. That sounds simple, but it can become complicated, depending on the components you use. How well do you understand polarity?

Do you know the National Electrical Code requirements for equipment? Use this quiz to test your knowledge.