In Canada and the USA, regulated products are required to be Certified or Listed by approved organizations for the respective markets. The requirements for each country are different and they differ even further for different products. To keep this basic, we will only discuss electrical products. Similar, not identical, systems are used for other types of products, such as building materials, gas appliances, plumbing fixtures and fittings, clothing and etc.

Canadian Electrical Code

In Canada, electrical products are regulated by the Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), these being the local electrical authorities. The AHJ have all adopted the Canadian Electrical Code (CSA-C22.1), which makes the process similar. The Canadian Electrical Code (CEC),“Safety Standard for Electrical Installation”, is a voluntary code for adoption and enforcement by regulatory authorities.

The history and operation of the Canadian Electrical Code, Part I (CEC)

The preliminary work in preparing the Canadian Electrical Code began in 1920 when a special committee,

appointed by the main Committee of the Canadian Engineering Standards Association, recommended its

development. A third meeting of this Committee was held in June 1927 with representatives from Nova Scotia,

Québec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia in attendance. At this meeting, the revised

draft, which had been discussed at the previous two meetings, was formally approved and it was resolved that it be printed as Part I of the Canadian Electrical Code.

The Committee on the CE Code, Part I, is composed of 41 members, with representation from inspection

authorities, industry, utilities, and allied interests. The main Committee meets once a year and deals with reports that have been submitted by the Section Subcommittees, which work under the jurisdiction of the main

Committee. Suggestions for changes to the Code may be made by any member of the Committee or anyone

outside the Committee as outlined in Clause C6.

The objective of this Code is to establish safety standards for the installation and maintenance of electrical equipment. In its preparation, consideration has been given to the prevention of fire and shock hazards, as well as proper maintenance and operation.

The scope of this Code covers all electrical work and electrical equipment operating or intended to operate at all voltages in electrical installations for buildings, structures, and premises, including factory-built relocatable and non-relocatable structures, and self-propelled marine vessels stationary for periods exceeding five months and connected to a shore supply of electricity continuously or from time to time, with some exceptions.

The Code has the following statement that helps to clarify that equipment has to be certified:

Approved (as applied to electrical equipment) —

(1) equipment that has been certified by a certification organization accredited by the Standards Council of

Canada in accordance with the requirements of

(a) CSA Group Standards; or

(b) other standards that have been developed by a standards development organization accredited by

the Standards Council of Canada, or other recognized documents, where CSA Group Standards do

not exist or are not applicable, provided that such other standards or other recognized documents

(i) are correlated with provisions of the CE Code, Part I; and

(ii) do not create duplication with standards already listed in Appendix A; or

(2) equipment that conforms to the requirements of the regulatory authority (see Appendix B).

The intent of the Code, by clearly defining the word “Approved”, is to remove any doubts about what it takes for products to be certified and who the certification should come from.

In Appendix A lists standards used to certify electrical equipment for the purpose of being “Approved” as defined in Section 0 within the Canadian Electrical Code.

By clearly defining the above requirements, it removes any confusion and clearly sets the criteria for why, who, what and how an electrical product is to be approved. This helps to unify the requirements across Canada. The words “Approved” and “Certified” are interchangeable.

U.S. Electrical Code

In the USA, electrical products are regulated by the Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), these being the local electrical authorities. Unlike Canada, not all jurisdictions have adopted the National Electrical Code (NFPA 70). This makes the process and following the requirements much more complicated. To make the requirements even more difficult to follow and understand, there are over 4000 jurisdictions in the USA, which includes Federal, State, county, city/town, with each setting its own rules and laws.

The National Electrical Code is published by the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA). NFPA has an Electrical Section that provides particular opportunity for NFPA members interested in electrical safety, to become better informed and to contribute to the development of the National Electrical Code and other NFPA electrical standards.

History and Development of the National Electrical Code (NEC)

The National Fire Protection Association has acted as sponsor of the National Electrical Code since

1911. The original Code document was developed in 1897 as a result of the united efforts of various

insurance, electrical, architectural, and allied interests.

Unlike the Canadian Electrical Code, the NEC has the following disclaimer:

The NFPA has no power, nor does it undertake, to police or enforce compliance with the contents of this document. Nor does the NFPA list, certify, test or inspect products, designs, or installations for compliance with this document.

Any certification or other statement of compliance with the requirements of this document shall not be attributable to the NFPA and is solely the responsibility of the certifier or maker of the statement.

The purpose of the Committee, who originally prepared the NEC, was primarily to minimize the risk of electricity as a source of electric shock and as a potential ignition source for fires and explosions and also to minimize the propagation of fire and explosions due to electrical installations.

The purpose of the NEC is the practical safeguarding of persons and property from hazards arising from the use of electricity.

Part of the difference between the CEC and NEC is in the definitions. For example, following is the definition of “Approved” in the NEC:

                  Approved. Acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction.

There is no mention or clarity of who shall approve electrical equipment or how.

Another important definition in the NEC is “Listed”:

Listed. Equipment, materials, or services included in a list published by an organization that is acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction and concerned with evaluation of products or services, that maintains periodic inspection of production of listed equipment or materials or periodic evaluation of services, and whose listing states that either the equipment, material, or service meets appropriate designated standards or has been tested and found suitable for a specified purpose.

FPN: The means for identifying listed equipment may vary for each organization concerned with product evaluation, some of which do not recognize equipment as listed unless it is also labeled. Use of the system employed by the listing organization allows the authority having jurisdiction to identify a listed product.

As per the above, the “Listing” can be conducted by any organization accepted by the AHJ. This definition creates many differences among the regulatory systems within the USA, from city to city, and state by state. Whereas, in Canada the term and approval process are standardized, consistent, and adopted by all jurisdictions.

In the above definition of “Listed”, the organization does not need to be accredited, it only needs to be “accepted”. Whereas, “Certified” requires the organization to be “accredited”. For an organization to be accredited as a “Certification Organization”, the process and requirements are standardized under ISO 17065. The term “Certification Organization” is harmonized internationally and is granted once an organization fulfills all the requirements within ISO 17065.  Accreditations for Certification Organizations are conducted by “Accreditation Bodies” and are globally recognized if they are Signatory members of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF).

For an organization to be “Listed”, it does not have any set international criteria which must be followed. It may be ISO 17065 and/or any other requirements.

Conclusion

As close as these two (2) neighbouring countries are with regards to the electrical infrastructure, their regulatory system differs significantly. Some of the reasons could be due to size of population, local legislative laws, insurance and legal systems. In Canada, the Canadian Electrical Code provides specific and uniformed approval criteria, whereas the National Electrical Code provides general criteria and allows the local authorities to fill in the blanks. Neither system is better then the other, as they both accomplish the same criteria for personal and property safety.

H.A.L.T. (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) is a common and well-known procedure in electronics’ manufacturing, such as: medical devices, computers, military equipment, etc.

As reliable products are the key to a successful business in the manufacturing industry, more and more manufacturers are looking to expose their prototype units to a H.A.L.T. process during designing or procurement phase, immediately before the actual production phase begins, in order to find and expose the weaknesses and their root causes related to the products they design.

This way, designers, engineers and developers are able to enhance the final product, by pushing its destruct limits beyond the operating specifications.

By creating a tailored H.A.L.T. test plan for their products and working closely with a testing laboratory, manufacturers are more likely to end up with a more reliable and mechanically stable unit, and less likely to experience too many warranty claims in the future.

Experienced testing laboratories, with qualified technical personnel, can provide assistance to manufacturers to create the appropriate H.A.L.T. procedures for their products, based on the end application, technical requirements, and the environment in which the products will be operating.

The most common tests used in a H.A.L.T. process are:

1. Hot or Cold Thermal H.A.L.T. procedures – the purpose of these procedures is to stress the unit and trigger operational malfunctions by pushing the environment temperature levels beyond its normal operation. Duration of these tests could be increased depending on the requirements, as well as the temperature changing rates can be manipulated in ways that will create big thermal fluctuations, accelerating the aging process. Also as part of these procedures, combinations between cold, hot and humidity tests can be performed as Thermal Shock cycles;
2. Vibration H.A.L.T. procedure is a combination of mechanical stresses induced by Random Vibration profiles and Shock Tests. The vibration profiles for this procedure are created and have the intention of finding physical durability limits and weaknesses, in order to improve its mechanical integrity;
3. Power Margining and Power Cycling H.A.L.T. procedures are specific electrical and safety tests, developed to stress the unit by applying different programs and cycles, manipulating voltages and currents beyond its normal operational ratings;
4. Combined H.A.L.T. procedure it is the most aggressive process related to the R&D phase and can be any combination of the above test procedures. This is the best way to go above and beyond the worst-case scenario.

In essence, H.A.L.T. takes testing to a higher level, beyond any qualification ratings or pass/fail criteria given by standards. The actual scope of it, is to simulate wear and tear of a product over the years, in just a few days or hours.

When this is the case, failure is not a surprise anymore, but almost an expectation.

For the month of December 2018, LabTest will be donating 5% (up to $500) of your project fees to the Ronald McDonald House.

Proceeds from December signed quotes will be donated to the RMH to support and keep families together this season.

Valid December 1^st to 31^st, 2018.

About Ronald McDonald House BC and Yukon:
Of the more than 80,000 patients who visit BC Children’s Hospital every year, 68% of them live outside of Vancouver and most have no place to stay while receiving the lifesaving medical care that they require. RMH BC provides a home away from home for families who live far from the care they need, so that they can be together throughout their treatment and recovery.

Ronald McDonald House BC and Yukon is more than just a place to stay – it’s a community. Hear from the families, volunteers, donors and supporters who make it possible.

Circles of Support Video

For more information:

(604) 247-0444

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Amendment 15 to Canada’s Energy Efficiency Regulations now pre-published

Amendment 15 to Canada’s Energy Efficiency Regulations has now been pre-published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, representing a significant milestone for Natural Resources Canada’s continued work under its Forward Regulatory Plan for 2018-2020.
Amendment 15

• Proposed amendments to the Energy Efficiency Regulations have been pre-published, along with a Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement.
• Pre-publication initiates a 70-day comment period, which will end on December 29, 2018.
• Natural Resources Canada welcomes formal, written comments to nrcan.equipment-equipement.rncan@canada.ca at any point throughout the 70-day period and encourages stakeholders to submit comments as soon as possible to allow for early analysis of any potential changes to the proposal to address concerns.
• All comments will be taken into consideration in the development of the final Regulations that will be published in the Canada Gazette, Part II.
• Please note that some divisions of the Regulations that are being updated in Amendment 15 are also being modified by Amendment 14, which is expected to be published in the Canada Gazette, Part II on October 31, 2018.
• The final publication date will depend on the number and nature of comments received during the comment period.

Stakeholders are encouraged to visit Natural Resources Canada’s website for more information and to register for upcoming webinars on the proposed amendment to the Energy Efficiency Regulations.

Canada Gazette, Part I, Volume 152, Number 42: Regulations Amending the Energy Efficiency Regulations, 2016 (Amendment 15)

http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2018/2018-10-20/html/reg3-eng.html