NFPA (FIRE) 70HB17

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This handbook contains the 54th edition of the National Electrical Code®. Nearly 120 yearshave passed since those cold days in March of 1896 (a mere 17 years after the invention ofthe incandescent light bulb), when a group representing a variety of organizations met at theheadquarters of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in New York City to develop anational code of rules for electrical construction and operation. This was not the first attempt toestablish consistent rules for electrical installations, but it was the first national effort. The needfor standardization was becoming urgent; the number of electrical fires was increasing. By 1881,one insurer had reported electrical fires in 23 of the 65 insured textile mills in New England.The major problem was the lack of an authoritative, nationwide electrical installation standard.As one of the early participants noted, “We were without standards and inspectors, whilemanufacturers were without experience and knowledge of real installation needs. The workmenfrequently created the standards as they worked, and rarely did two men think and work alike.”By 1895, five electrical installation codes were in use in the United States. The manufactureof products that met the requirements of all five codes was difficult, so something had to bedone to develop a single national code. The committee that met in 1896 recognized that thefive existing codes should be used collectively as the basis for the new code. In the first knowninstance of international harmonization, the group also referred to the German code, the codeof the British Board of Trade, and the Phoenix Rules of England. The importance of industryconsensus was immediately recognized; before the committee met again in 1897, the new codewas reviewed by 1200 individuals in the United States and Europe. Shortly thereafter, the firststandardized U.S. electrical code, the National Electrical Code, was published.