Roger, I agree with what you said wholeheartedly, but replies to this board, after others have mentioned other applicable codes, in my opinion, tend towards using solely the NEC as the determining factor and not considering the other codes.
I also agree that the NEC does not need to be changed. The NEC tells us how to safely install electrical systems, not where the electrical systems are required in many cases.
The changes should be made to the building codes not the NEC if someone believes it is unsafe not to install artificial light in some portion of the building.
The reason for this is to eliminate discrepancies between the two codes. Since the I-codes have taken over, there will be less and less instances of conflicting information if the ICC and NFPA can cooperate, such as when the ICC decided not to write a completely new electrical code.
I don't like the fact that the ICC does anything but reference the NEC such as in the IRC because there is confusion for contractors on which code they have to follow and of course there are discrepancies between the two even though the ICC basically tried to copy and paste the NEC into the IRC.
Then an inspector has to determine which is the most stringent code(which is hard to determine in some cases) and apply it.
Prior to becoming an inspector, I had very little knowledge of building codes and never considered them in doing electrical work. I don't intend to demean anybody, but maybe there are others like me who think the same way I use to until I was exposed to many other codes and adoption processes by municipalities and such and was just hoping to share a little of the insight I have been fortunate to gain over the last 6+ years of being an inspector.
I really like the thought provoking threads, it helps keep the cobwebs from settling in.
Thanks all.
