I’m sure EMT is a safer installation that Romex, but the question is: what is the appropriate ‘code requirement’ for a ‘safe’ installation? In most jurisdictions including Louisville, Romex is considered safe enough for wiring a single family house, if properly installed (key proviso). An owner of a structure could bid out a job requiring EMT for a new Single Family Residential house, but that would be his or her choice. We as the regulating authority can always approve an installation that more than meets the minimum requirement. Are installation costs a lot higher in Chicago? Are there problems with people going with non-licensed ‘handy men’ to wire a structure with Romex because of Chicago’s EMT requirement? One of the objections I am reading to code requirements is that they make an installation ‘less safe’ because the lower cost of an unqualified installer and sub-code compliant materials makes it harder for qualified persons to successfully bid on jobs. Is this an accurate statement in Chicago or in other jurisdictions?
I can tell you that a lot—a whole lot—of Single Family Residential wiring jobs are done here without permits, either by the home owner who goes to Lowes, buys a ‘how to book’ some wire and does it him or herself or by handy men who will do a simple job for a small amount of money. In a house I rented once, I needed an outlet in the basement for a new freezer. I called the landlord and asked him to send his electrician over to install one, and that I’d pay for it. He said, “Oh that would cost way too much for such a simple thing. You can do it yourself if you want to; I know you know how.”
I thought that was a pretty strange answer; given it was his house that would burn down if I screwed it up. 
Whatever the answer, EMT is definitely safer than just Romex, though requiring rigid pipe would be safer still. Obviously, the jurisdiction makes the ultimate decision as to what is safe enough. The NEC just sets (establishes) the minimum requirements for what the authors believe are ‘safe’ enough.
Here is an example of multiple failures that led to a fatal accident. However, neither the wiring standards nor the materials used are not to blame for this accident. There were multiple mistakes, all of which compounded each other: metal studs were used (not grounded to the service panel allowing an open fault), Romex not properly installed, and a drywall screw that was pierced the jacket of the Romex. That the house passed preliminary and final inspection (after the fatality) makes the whole thing an even greater ‘cluster.’
http://www.clickorlando.com/money/7302637/detail.html Be sure to click on the video story and you will see the details. (Though unrelated to the accident, my keen eyes tell me that the vent hose the dryer installer was using doesn’t meet building code either, though that type of hose is used all the time.)
So, is the 2008 NEC too strict? Not strict enough? About right? I sense many of you feel it goes too far, but as for myself I am not convinced it places an onerous burden on the costs of new construction.
