Safety, Inspection, and Code-Compliance Practices
Domain 9 covers the practical side of compliance: safe work practices, the inspection sequence, and the tests and documentation an inspector expects to see.
Safe work practices
NFPA 70E governs electrical safe work practices in the workplace. Circuits must be de-energized unless an energized work permit justifies otherwise, and that decision requires a shock and arc-flash risk assessment, appropriate PPE, and lockout/tagout. 110.16 requires arc-flash warning labels on service equipment, and 110.26 working space must be maintained and never used for storage. Temporary wiring on construction sites falls under Article 590, with GFCI protection for temporary receptacles.
The inspection sequence
A typical residential job runs through plan review and permit, underground or slab inspection, rough-in, and final. Rough-in checks cable protection, box fill, support, and grounding electrode and bonding connections; final checks devices, GFCI and AFCI function, cover plates, the panel directory required by 408.4, and terminal torque per 110.14(D). Correction notices must be cleared and the work re-inspected. 90.4 gives the AHJ authority to interpret the Code and to approve equipment and methods.
Tests and verification
Verify equipment grounding continuity end to end, polarity at every receptacle, GFCI trip with a tester, AFCI trip at the device, and insulation resistance where specified. Confirm bonding of metal water and gas piping, and confirm that neutral and ground are separated in subpanels.
Worked example
At a final inspection, a plug tester shows an open ground at a bedroom receptacle. The installer extended the circuit with two-wire cable and installed a three-prong receptacle with no ground path. 406.4(D)(2) requires one of the permitted replacements - a grounding conductor, a GFCI-protected three-prong receptacle marked "no equipment ground," or a two-prong receptacle. As installed, it is a correction item, not a judgment call.
Traps
Calling an existing installation "grandfathered" while adding new work; leaving the panel directory blank; skipping the AFCI test because the breaker looked fine; working energized without a permit; storing material in the working space; ignoring torque values on aluminum terminations.