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Storm Shelters

Current Code Development Cycle: 2024–2026

Happening Now: Groups A&B Public Comment Hearings

March 12, 2026

2024 GROUP A PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE I-CODES

Critical Operations Power Systems

The original University of Michigan codes and standards enterprise advocated actively in Article 708 Critical Operations Power Systems (COPS) of the National Electrical Code (NEC) because of the elevated likelihood that the education facility industry managed assets that were likely candidates for designation critical operations areas by emergency management authorities.

Because the NEC is incorporated by reference into most state and local electrical safety laws, it saw the possibility that some colleges and universities — particularly large research universities with independent power plants, telecommunications systems and large hospitals — would be on the receiving end of an unfunded mandate. Many education facilities are identified by the Federal Emergency Management Association as community storm shelters, for example.

As managers of publicly owned assets, University of Michigan Plant Operations had no objection to rising to the challenge of using publicly owned education facilities for emergency preparedness and disaster recovery operations; only that meeting the power system reliability requirements to the emergency management command centers would likely cost more than anyone imagined — especially at the University Hospital and the Public Safety Department facilities. Budgets would have to be prepared to make critical operations power systems (COPS) resistant to fire and flood damages; for example.

Collaboration with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Industrial Applications Society began shortly after the release of the 2007 NEC. Engineering studies were undertaken, papers were published (see links below) and the inspiration for the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee developed to provide a gathering place for power, telecommunication and energy professionals to discover and promulgate leading practice. That committee is now formally a part of IEEE and collaborates with IAS/PES JTCC assigned the task of harmonizing NFPA and IEEE electrical safety and sustainability consensus documents (codes, standards, guidelines and recommended practices.

Transcripts of 2026 Revision:

Public Input Report CMP-13

Public Comment Report CMP-13

https://t.co/chd9RJVc7G
print(“Disaster”) pic.twitter.com/Lu6Dw3bARq

— Standards Michigan (@StandardsMich) November 15, 2021

The transcript of NEC Code Making Panel 13 — the committee that revises COPS Article 708 every three years — is linked below:

NEC CMP-13 First Draft Balloting

NEC CMP-13 Second Draft Balloting

The 2023 Edition of the National Electrical Code does not contain revisions that affect #TotalCostofOwnership — only refinement of wiring installation practices when COPS are built integral to an existing building that will likely raise cost. There are several dissenting comments to this effect and they all dissent because of cost. Familiar battles over overcurrent coordination persist.

Our papers and proposals regarding Article 708 track a concern for power system reliability — and the lack of power — as an inherent safety hazard. These proposals are routinely rejected by incumbent stakeholders on NEC technical panels who do not agree that lack of power is a safety hazard. Even if lack of power is not a safety hazard, reliability requirements do not belong in an electrical wiring installation code developed largely by electricians and fire safety inspectors. The IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee (IEEE E&H) maintains a database on campus power outages; similar to the database used by the IEEE 1366 committees that develop reliability indices to enlighten public utility reliability regulations.

Public input on the 2026 revision to the NEC will be received until September 7th. We have reserved a workspace for our priorities in the link below:

2026 National Electrical Code Workspace

Colleagues: Robert Arno, Neal Dowling, Jim Harvey

LEARN MORE:

IEEE | Critical Operations Power Systems: Improving Risk Assessment in Emergency Facilities with Reliability Engineering

Consuting-Specifying Engineer | Risk Assessments for Critical Operations Power Systems

Electrical Construction & Maintenance | Critical Operations Power Systems

International City County Management Association | Critical Operations Power Systems: Success of the Imagination

Facilities Manager | Critical Operations Power Systems: The Generator in Your Backyard

Healthcare Facilities Code

“The Doctor” 1891 Sir Luke Fildes

The NFPA 99 Healthcare Facilities Code committee develops a distinct consensus document (i.e. “regulatory product”) that is distinct from National Electrical Code Article 517; though there are overlaps and gaps that are the natural consequence of changing technology and regulations. It is worthwhile reviewing the scope of each committee:

NFPA 99 Scope: This Committee shall have primary responsibility for documents that contain criteria for safeguarding patients and health care personnel in the delivery of health care services within health care facilities: a) from fire, explosion, electrical, and related hazards resulting either from the use of anesthetic agents, medical gas equipment, electrical apparatus, and high frequency electricity, or from internal or external incidents that disrupt normal patient care; b) from fire and explosion hazards; c) in connection with the use of hyperbaric and hypobaric facilities for medical purposes; d) through performance, maintenance and testing criteria for electrical systems, both normal and essential; and e) through performance, maintenance and testing, and installation criteria: (1) for vacuum systems for medical or surgical purposes, and (2) for medical gas systems; and f) through performance, maintenance and testing of plumbing, heating, cooling , and ventilating in health care facilities.

NFPA 70 Article 517 Scope: The provisions of this article shall apply to electrical construction and installation criteria in healthcare facilities that provide services to human beings. The requirements in Parts II and III not only apply to single-function buildings but are also intended to be individually applied to their respective forms of occupancy within a multi-function building (e.g. a doctor’s examining room located within a limited care facility would be required to meet the provisions of 517.10) Informational Note: For information concerning performance, maintenance, and testing criteria, refer to the appropriate health care facilities documents.

In short, NFPA 70 Article 517 is intended to focus only on electrical safety issues though electrotechnology complexity and integration in healthcare settings (security, telecommunications, wireless medical devices, fire safety, environmental air control, etc.) usually results in conceptual overlap with other regulatory products such as NFPA 101 (Life Safety Code) and the International Building Code.

university of michigan cardiovascular october medical health 1921 721

Gold_Coast_University_Hospital_Blocks_A,_B_and_C new zealand health intern NZ wiki 1921

glen_panotamic mcgill university canada international medical health aerial needs attribution 1922 719

Moffitt_Cancer_Center_viewed_from_east university of south florida medical center 1922 721

Cooper_lobby_2009 hospital new jersey interior wiki 1919 721

aubuilding augusta university hospital alabama may need attribution 1921 721

Children's_Hospital_Pittsburgh university of pittsburgh health wiki 1921 721

Cork_university_hospital_2017_stitch IRELAND INTERNATIONAL 1923 723

Sahlgrenska Universitetssjukhuset sweden facebook international health hospital photo by Marie Ullnert needs attribution october 1919 721

Several issues were recently debated by the Article 517 technical committee during the 2023 National Electrical Code Second Draft meetings

The conditions under which reconditioned electrical equipment be installed in healthcare settings; contingent on listing and re-certification specifics.
Relaxation of the design rules for feeder and branch circuit sizing through the application of demand factors.
Application of ground fault circuit interrupters.
“Rightsizing” feeder and branch circuit power chains (Demand factors in Section 517.22)
Patient care space categories
Independence of power sources (517.30)

There are, of course, many others, not the least of which involves emergency management. For over 20 years our concern has been for the interdependency of water and electrical power supply to university hospitals given that many of them are part of district energy systems.

We need to “touch” this code at least once a month because of its interdependence on other consensus products by other standards developing organizations. To do this we refer NFPA 99 standards action to the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee which meets online four times monthly in European and American time zones.

The transcript of NEC Article 517 Public Input for the 2023 revision of NFPA 70 is linked below. (You may have to register your interest by setting up a free-access account):

Code-Making Panel 15 (NEC-P15) Public Input Report

Code-Making Panel 15 (NEC-P15) Public Comment Report

Technical committees will meet in June to endorse the 2023 National Electrical Code.

~~Public consultation on the Second Draft closes May 31st.~~ Landing page for selected sections of the 2024 revision of NFPA 99 are linked below:

Electrical Systems (HEA-ELS)

Fundamentals (HEA-FUN)

Health Care Emergency Management and Security (HEA-HES)

Second Draft Comments are linked below:

Electrical Systems (HEA-ELS)

Fundamentals (HEA-FUN)

Health Care Emergency Management and Security (HEA-HES)

~~NITMAM closing date: March 28, 2023~~

We break down NFPA 70 and NFPA 99 together and keep them on the standing agenda of both our Power and Health colloquia; open to everyone. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting.

"The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity, taking a place beside the physician and the priest" - William Osler

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about" - Angela Schwindt "The true art of pediatrics lies not only in curing diseases but also in preventing them" - Abraham Jacobi

EUYVpiuX0AECpij michigan state university college of veterinary medicine nurses 1924

Students in scrubs and masks perform a procedure on a mannequin

EUYaDiJWsAIEUt7 university of ottawa operating room health hospital nurse canada interior 1919

Augustana University nursing dakota sts stps 19

Issues: [12-18, [15-97] and [16-101]

Contact: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Robert Arno, Josh Elvove, Joe DeRosier, Larry Spielvogel

NFPA Staff Liaison: Jonathan Hart

Archive / NFPA 99

Campus Outdoor Lighting

“The Starry Night” | Vincent van Gogh

The IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee has completed a chapter on recommended practice for designing, building, operating and maintaining campus exterior lighting systems in the forthcoming IEEE 3001.9 Recommended Practice for the Design of Power Systems for Supplying Commercial and Industrial Lighting Systems; a new IEEE Standards Association title inspired by, and derived from, the legacy “IEEE Red Book“. The entire IEEE Color Book suite is in the process of being replaced by the IEEE 3000 Standards Collection™ which offers faster-moving and more scaleable, guidance to campus power system designers.

Campus exterior lighting systems generally run in the 100 to 10,000 fixture range and are, arguably, the most visible characteristic of public safety infrastructure. Some major research universities have exterior lighting systems that are larger and more complex than cooperative and municipal power company lighting systems which are regulated by public service commissions.

While there has been considerable expertise in developing illumination concepts by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, Illumination Engineering Society, the American Society of Heating and Refrigeration Engineers, the International Electrotechnical Commission and the International Commission on Illumination, none of them contribute to leading practice discovery for the actual power chain for these large scale systems on a college campus. The standard of care has been borrowed, somewhat anecdotally, from public utility community lighting system practice. These concepts need to be revisited as the emergent #SmartCampus takes shape.

Electrical power professionals who service the education and university-affiliated healthcare facility industry should communicate directly with Mike Anthony (maanthon@umich.edu) or Jim Harvey (jharvey@umich.edu). This project is also on the standing agenda of the IEEE E&H committee which meets online 4 times monthly — every other Tuesday — in European and American time zones. Login credentials are available on its draft agenda page.

University of Toronto night canada facebook timeline 1929 719

Late_night_SFSU_quad night San Francisco State University

st joseph university night winterish 1923 721

Champlain College vermont fall facebook summer or spring cover night 1921 720

University of Alaska Fairbanks facebook timeline northern lights 1922 721

Issue: [15-199]

Category: Electrical, Public Safety, Architectural, #SmartCampus, Space Planning, Risk Management

Contact: Mike Anthony, Kane Howard, Jim Harvey, Dev Paul, Steven Townsend, Kane Howard

LEARN MORE:

Pathway Illumination

“Nighthawks” 1942 Edward Hopper

The Illumination Engineering Society is one of the first names in standards-setting organizations with a catalog routinely referenced in design guidelines and construction projects. Because of the money flow into illumination technologies worldwide the IES occupies a domain that is relatively crowded:

National Electrical Manufacturers and Medical Imaging Association; whose interest lies in leveling the playing field for about 300 electrical equipment manufacturers
Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers; whose interest lies in the research activity in seeing sciences, the luminescence sources and the power chain
American Society of Heating and Refrigeration Engineers; whose interest lies in energy conservation
National Fire Protection Association; whose interest lies in fire safety of lighting systems within building premises.
International Code Council; whose interest lies in pulling together all of the relevant standards for lighting egress paths of the built environment
International Electrotechnical Commission; whose interest lies in the administration of global electrical and electronic technologies
International Commission on Illumination; the international authority on light, illumination, colour, and colour spaces

There are others. With illumination power requirement on a downward trajectory where footcandles can be driven at information & communication technology voltage and current levels; we find relatively new entrants into the market with deep pockets and for good reason. In a typical building, the interior lighting load is the major electrical load (on the order of 40 percent) and a major contributor to the functionality of the building. There are a number of other trade associations that are participants in research and open source standards for faster moving parts of the illumination science. We will cover these in future, related posts.

San Francisco State University facebook cover night california 1921 721

BROWN UNIVERSITY AERIAL NIGHT 1921 721 featured

Antelope_Valley_College_(3117769733) california nighttime parking lot wiki 1920 719

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Glendale Community College facebook cover night 1921 723

Last year a new standardization project was launched by the IES. From the project prospectus:

IES LP-2-201x, Designing Quality Lighting for People in Outdoor Environments (new standard)

Project Need: This document is not intended to supersede existing IES application RPs, rather it will link the various documents together, augmenting them in subject areas not otherwise covered, including but not limited to sidewalks, bikepaths, pedestrian paths, parks, outdoor malls, pedestrian-only business districts, plazas, amphitheaters, large outdoor gathering areas, campuses, pedestrian bridges, and pedestrian underpasses.

Stakeholders: Lighting practitioners, electrical engineers, civic planners, civil engineers, architects, community-based planning groups, general public. Lighting recommendations for non-vehicular pedestrian applications using recommendations beyond illuminance only, which ultimately fails to provide a complete guideline for the visual experience of pedestrian-based tasks. The RP will be a comprehensive approach for light levels, glare, adaptation, spectrum, and contrast while addressing safety, timing, and perceived security. Application of these recommendations will ultimately enhance the pedestrian’s visual experience while also respecting the environment.

Soon to be released, a related product covering technical specifics of a familiar battleground — lighting controls:

IES LP-12 Lighting Practice: IoT Connected Lighting

The consultation closed May 24th and the agenda of the committee writing this standard is being administered. Very often technical committees are receptive to new ideas after a comment deadline if those ideas are submitted to a committee member directly. We invite anyone with an interest in this topic to click in to any of our daily colloquia to begin that process.

Not far into the future: individually controlled luminaires responsive to the use of campus pathways. There are already some pilot projects on higher education campuses.

IES Standards in Public Review

A few other technical committees relevant to educational communities should be identified, though we will sort through the standards setting activity in separate posts:

Edu-Lib-Ofc Lighting Committee

Outdoor Environmental Lighting Committee

Outdoor Public Spaces Committee

Roadway Lighting Committee (Many large research universities own miles of roads)

We always encourage direct participation by space planners, workpoint experts and academic unit facility managers in IES standards development process. Contact: Patricia McGillicuddy, (917) 913-0027, pmcgillicuddy@ies.org. 120 Wall Street, Floor 17, New York, NY.

We coordinate most of our electrotechnology standards advocacy with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee which meets 4 times monthly in European and American time zones. Its meeting agendas and login credentials are available on its website. Since illumination technologies are present in all spaces in education communities, IES consensus products will appear on the standing agenda of most disciplines. See our CALENDAR.

Issue: [19-50]

Category: Electrical, Space Planning

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Kane Howard, Glenn Keates, George Reiher

*We find that when the SSO has heavy manufacturer support, its standards development facility lies in the upper-quality tier.

Data Center Wiring

The bookwheel, also known as a revolving bookcase, was invented by an Italian scholar and polymath named Agostino Ramelli. Ramelli was born in 1531 in Ponte Tresa, a town in present-day Italy, and he lived during the Renaissance period.

Ramelli’s invention, described in his work titled “Le diverse et artificiose machine del capitano Agostino Ramelli” (The Various and Ingenious Machines of Captain Agostino Ramelli), was published in 1588. This book showcased a collection of 195 mechanical devices.

Ramelli’s work contributed to the growing interest in mechanical inventions during the Renaissance period. His bookwheel design remains a fascinating example of early engineering and ingenuity, highlighting the desire for knowledge and practical solutions in the pursuit of learning and scholarly endeavors.

2026 NEC Articles 645-646-647 Information Technology Equipment, et. al First Draft Report

2026 NEC Articles 645-646-647 Information Technology Equipment, et. al Second Draft Report

“Bookwheel” Early Data Center

The standard of care for wiring safety for data centers — a continually expanding presence in education communities even before the pandemic — is established in National Electrical Code Articles 645 (Information Technology Equipment), Article 646 (Modular Data Centers) and Article 647 (Sensitive Electronic Equipment). You will notice that these articles cover the topic comprehensively and bear the imprint of competing Producer-Interest groups. There are no User-Interest representatives on Code-Making Panel 12 that represent the final fiduciary in education communities even though education communities are one of the largest markets for information and communication technology systems.

The current version of NFPA 70 is linked below:

2026 National Electrical Code

2023 National Electrical Code

Transcripts of technical committee action during the 2026 revision (CMP-16) are linked below because they will inform our recommendations for the 2026 National Electrical Code. Keep in mind that the Technical Correlating Committee is moving content around the Code in order to make the NEC easier to use by experts.

CMP-16 First Draft Report | Public Input with Committee Response

CMP-16 Second Draft Report

The transcripts of technical committee action during the 2023 revision are linked below because they will inform our recommendations for the 2026 National Electrical Code.

Code‐Making Panel 12 Public Input Report

Code-Making Panel 12 Public Comment Report

National Electrical Code CMP-12

We will use these in our exploration of what we might propose for improvements in the 2026 revision. ~~Public comment on the First Draft of the 2026 Edition will be received until August 28th.~~

The issues that have been in play in these articles of the NEC are familiar to veterans of the “food fight” – occupancy classification, cable specifications, fire protection, ventilation, energy consumption, surge protection, licensing of engineers. etc. We look for market-making excesses by opposing stakeholders that seek to limit their risk while raising the (financial) risk to education communities.

We encourage our colleagues to participate in the NFPA code development process directly. We also encourage stakeholders in education communities — students, faculty and staff to join us during any of the teleconferences we co-host with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee 4 times monthly in both European and American time zones. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting.

wash-u-data-center-expansion-new-5 washington university needs attrib 1921

dassi-banner-1600x600 strathclyde UK univ data center needs attribu data center 1924

jhu-mt-washington-data-center-2 john hopkins needs attrib 1921

wash-u-data-center-expansion-new-1 staff 1917

lg_ut_data_center_4 texas needs attrib 1921

"One day ladies will take their computers for walks in the park and tell each other, "My little computer said such a funny thing this morning" - Alan Turing

Related standards:

NFPA 75: Standard for the Fire Protection of Information Technology Equipment

2024 International Building Code: Special Detailed Requirements Based on Occupancy and Use

2024 International Building Code: Section 304.1 Business Group B

National Electrical Definitions

NFPA Glossary of Terms

International Building Code Chapter 2: Definitions

International Electrotechnical Commission: Electropedia

Because electrotechnology changes continually, definitions (vocabulary) in its best practice literature changes continually; not unlike any language on earth that adapts to the moment and place.

The changes reflect changes in technology or changes in how the technology works in practice; even how the manufacturers create adaptations to field conditions by combining functions. Any smart electrical component has a digital language embedded in it, for example.

Consider the 2023 National Electrical Code. Apart from many others the NEC will contain a major change to Article 100 (Definitions); the subject of elevated debate over the past three years.

When we refer “language” we must distinguish between formal language, informal language, colloquial language and dialect which may differ the language spoken, language written at the office and language used on the job site. “Terms of art”

2026 National Electrical Code | CMP-1 Second Draft Report

FREE ACCESS: 2020 National Electrical Code (NFPA 70)

2023 NEC Public Input Report CMP-1 (868 pages)

2023 NEC Second Draft Public Comment Report (914 pages)

Are these terms (or, “terms of art”) best understood in context (upstream articles in Chapters 4 through 8) — or should they be adjudicated by the 14 Principals of Code Making Panel 1? The answer will arrive in the fullness of time. Many changes to the National Electrical Code require more than one cycle to stabilize.

Code Making Panel 1 has always been the heaviest of all NEC panels. As explained n our ABOUT, the University of Michigan held a vote in CMP-1 for 20+ years (11 revision cycles) before moving to the healthcare facilities committee for the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee. Standards Michigan continues its involvement on behalf of the US education facility industry — the second largest building construction market. There is no other pure user-interest voice on any technical committee; although in some cases consulting companies are retained for special purposes.

To serve the purpose of making NFPA 70 more “useable” we respect the Standards Council decision to make this change if it contributes to the viability of the NFPA business model. We get to say this because no other trade association comes close to having as enduring and as strong a voice: NFPA stands above all other US-based SDO’s in fairness and consideration of its constituency. The electrical safety community in the United States is a mighty tough crowd.

If the change does not work, or work well enough, nothing should prohibit reversing the trend toward “re-centralizing” — or “de-centralizing” the definitions.

~~Public comment on the First Draft of the 2026 Edition will be received until August 28, 2024.~~

~~Technical Committees meet during the last half of October to respond to public comment on the First Draft of the 2026 National Electrical Code.~~

Electrical Contractor: Round 1 of the 2023 NEC: A summary of proposed changes (Mark Earley, July 15, 2021)

Electrical Contractor: 2023 Code Article and Definition Revisions: Accepting (NEC) change, part 2 (Mark Earley, March 15, 2022)

Kahn Health Care Pavilion

Our tenure in the 2026 National Electrical Code will result in at least a 10 percent reduction in the cost of building premise wiring — (mostly in the feeder power chain) — in healthcare facilities; based on the results of last month’s meeting of Code Making Panel 15.

Assuming electrical power infrastructure is 15 percent of in a $920 million facility like this (excluding interior moveable fixtures), that would have meant an approximate $14 million reduction in cost. That cost savings cannot be realized because it was designed to an earlier version of the National Electrical Code.

Facilities and Operations

National Electrical Code CMP-15

Healthcare Facilities Code

Hospital Plug Load

ORT America

$920M Michigan Medicine tower tops out, targets 2025 opening

Transmission Line Right-of-Way

Optimization of Transmission Line Right-of-Way

Ajaykumar Patel, et. al

School of Engineering & Technology, Central Queensland University, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract: A specific land is required to design the transmission line to construct effectively and maintain properly is called right of way of transmission line. It is calculated by considering mainly three electrical quantity related transmission line such as electric field, magnetic field and radio interference. Corona effect is considered for the evolution of right of way. By considering these parameters, it provide idea related to effect surrounding the area nearby transmission line.

The determination of transmission line right of way for public electric utilities typically involves a combination of legal considerations, regulatory requirements, environmental assessments, and public engagement:

Planning and Route Selection: Public electric utilities assess their power transmission needs based on factors such as population growth, energy demand, and infrastructure upgrades. They consider various potential routes and alternatives, taking into account factors like terrain, existing infrastructure, land use, and environmental sensitivities.

Environmental and Impact Assessments: Utilities conduct environmental and impact assessments to evaluate the potential effects of the proposed transmission line routes. These assessments examine factors such as wildlife habitats, endangered species, wetlands, water bodies, cultural or historical sites, and scenic landscapes. The purpose is to identify potential impacts and propose mitigation measures.

Regulatory and Permitting Process: Public utilities must comply with applicable laws and regulations governing transmission line development. This includes obtaining necessary permits and approvals from relevant regulatory agencies at the federal, state, and local levels. The requirements vary depending on the jurisdiction, but they often involve environmental agencies, land management agencies, and public utility commissions.

Public Engagement and Consultation: Utilities engage in public consultation and outreach to gather feedback from affected communities, landowners, and stakeholders. They conduct public hearings, open houses, and meetings to inform the public about the project, address concerns, and consider alternative routes suggested by the community. This engagement helps ensure transparency and public input in the decision-making process.

Negotiations and Eminent Domain: Utilities negotiate with landowners along the proposed transmission line route to acquire the necessary right of way. In some cases, if an agreement cannot be reached, utilities may exercise eminent domain, which is a legal process that allows them to acquire the land for public use while providing just compensation to the affected landowner.

Legal Framework: The legal framework for determining transmission line right of way varies by jurisdiction. Laws related to land use, zoning, environmental protection, and eminent domain play a role in defining the process and requirements for securing right of way.

Procedures vary depending on the country, state, or region where the transmission line is being developed. Local regulations, environmental conditions, and public engagement practices will influence the overall process.