# N.I.C.E.I.C. Contradicting themselves?



## cornishsparks (Oct 14, 2007)

Yes they sent me the same flyer, might have been in the connnections mag.
Looks like they are endorsing cables sitting on top of cieling grid.
This product looks like alot of money for a pole, the NICIEC are charging more than you could buy them from the merchants.
Buy a set of drain rods instead least you could use them for some thing else as well


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## frank (Feb 6, 2007)

I guess they think you may tie wrap the cables to the ceiling suspensions. But then if you are removing tiles every yard or so to do this - then why use the rod? We had an electrician here in Doncaster a couple of years ago killed when working with cables in a roof void. Just as you mention the grid was well and truly alive. And would you believe it. He was working in a council office. Rules for one - rules for others. Poor lad was only in his early thirties. Cost the council a fortune in compensation. Similarly at a boiler plant - for the same council about 10 years ago an plumber was killed when he came into contact with live metalwork in a roof space.

Frank


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## cornishsparks (Oct 14, 2007)

And its not a requirement to carry out bonding to the cieling grid?


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## Trimix-leccy (Dec 4, 2007)

C49-13 NICEIC TEchnical manual, {US Niceic technical manual is an additional publication which explains how to interpret the regs!! It is approximately 10 times thicker than the regs book} now it is published on CD, postage costs and all that.

*2. Earthing and bonding​*In practice, unless there are very exceptional circumstances (which would need to be taken
into account by the electrical designer), the conductive parts of a suspended ceiling will be
neither exposed-conductive-parts nor extraneous-conductive-parts. Consequently, in
normal circumstances, suspended ceilings need neither to be earthed nor equipotentially
bonded.
Electrical equipment such as luminaires, lighting track, overhead busbars, air conditioning
units and the like incorporated in a suspended ceiling will normally be of either Class​​I or
Class II construction. The exposed-conductive-parts of Class I equipment are required to
be connected to the main earthing terminal of the installation by a circuit protective
conductor designed to conduct earth fault current. Class II equipment is designed such
that any insulation fault in the equipment cannot result in fault current flowing into any
conductive parts with which the equipment may be in contact. The conductive parts of a
suspended ceiling incorporating Class I and/or Class II equipment are therefore not
intended to conduct earth fault current, and so such parts need not be intentionally earthed.
(Some conductive parts of a suspended ceiling may be earthed, however, by virtue of
fortuitous contact with exposed-conductive-parts, including those of Class I equipment.)
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, the conductive parts of a suspended ceiling
will not introduce a potential that does not already exist in the space in which the ceiling is
installed. In normal circumstances, therefore, there is no need to arrange for the
conductive parts of the ceiling to be connected to either a main bonding conductor or to
any supplementary bonding conductor.​


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