Lordy - Lordy (Since when does the opinion of compliance engineers carry any weight with the Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) ?????)
OSHA regulates federally controlled enterprises. Electrical equipment needs to be listed/certified by a Nationally Recognized Test Laboratory. The NRTL DOES NOT APPROVE the equipment, it merely attests to the fact that the equipment has been tested to certain requirements and if the equipment passes those tests, allows its logo to be affixed to the equipment. The actual approval of the equipment is done by OSHA. OSHA does not really inspect and approve the equipment, its inspectors look to see whether the equipment carries the marking of a NRTL and presume compliance of such equipment. Other AHJs such as municipalities, counties, states etc. operate under their own rules. Some recognize the NEC, some recognize only part of the NEC and certification/listing organizations must seek recognition of their marking individually in each jurisdiction. Believe me, that is not a trivial undertaking. However, there is nothing that says that you have to be a NRTL to be recognized by an AHJ. Ofcourse it does not hinder, if you are. To recapitulate, the NEC in the USA and the CEC in Canada, are voluntary standards, invoked and made mandatory by local authorities, as they see fit. (Many AHJs have not updated their statutes and under law, are bound by older vintages of the NEC or CEC). Certification and Listing organizations DO NOT APPROVE equipment. That is the prerogative of the Authorities Having Jurisdiction. Normally, if the local inspector notes the marking of a recognized Listing or Certification organization on a product, he/she stops the investigation right there and assumes that the product meets the applicable requirements and therefore approves the installation. (Installation may mean, plugging the thing into a socket). Most every appliance I know off. goes on the fritz some day and gets repaired. Unless the repair is done by an authorized agent of the manufacturer, your warranty, your listing, and the mfrs.responsibility go out of the window as soon as the equipment is opened up. Many, many appliances get repaired by unauthorized technicians and are technically no longer the piece of equipment that was tested and certified as being compliant. I would not be surprised if a study were to show that at least 30% of the electrical appliances on this continent are technically out of compliance with their listing requirements. We've learned to live with that and to my knowledge, this has not led to the streets of this great nation being littered with electrocuted corpses. Hence, nobody took action. The gentleman from Goodwill has more of a liability problem that a technical problem. Regards, Vic Boersma
