4TH QUARTER - 2005

Health Plan Seminar 2

Class Schedule 3

Code Class 4

Local Code Amendments

5

New IEC Leadership 5

Christmas Party 6 - 7

Grounding for Light-ing Protection

8 - 9

Associate Members 10

Additional Member-ship Resources

11

INS IDE THIS ISSUE:

WATTS UP MID-SOUTH INDEPENDENT ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS, INC.

It’s true! The Independent Electrical Contractors Association has signed an agreement with the Lloyds of London to offer group health insurance to all of our members. There are six different cafeteria-style plans that provide deductibles and co-pays of all different sizes. At the present time, National IEC is working diligently to provide preliminary quotes for all companies interested. During the National Convention in Baltimore the Executive Committee received their quotes. The results of these quotes were that most of the contractors felt a substantial savings in their health care costs. The insurance not only covers major medical, but it also offers vision, dental and pharmaceutical plans. That’s not all !!! Lloyds of London is offering Health Reimbursement and Health Savings Accounts. Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) were created by the Medicare bill signed by President Bush on December 8, 2003 and are designed to help individuals save for future qualified medical and retiree health expenses on a tax-free basis. All of this will be explained to the IEC contractor members and potential contractors members on February 7th, 2006 at the Mid-South IEC’s Training Facility.

Please see page two of this newsletter

for all of the details.

New Health Care Plan

is Here !!!

PAGE 2 4 TH QUARTER– 2005

IEC Members can now have access to comprehensive and customiza-ble health, dental, vision, pharmacy, life and accident benefits. All at a cost that can be substantially less than you are currently paying !!!

Learn how your company may be able to save money !!!

You Are Cordially Invited To Attend This FREE Seminar and Q&A Session.

Join us and other fellow contractors to learn more about the benefits of the IEC Power Plus Program. A health program that many of you have asked for and have been waiting for. This seminar is open to all IEC Contractor Members and invited non-IEC Contractor Members.

There will be two different sessions that you can choose to attend. They will both be held on Tuesday February 7, 2006 at either:

8:00AM - 10:00AM 3:00PM - 5:00PM at the IEC’s Office and Training Facility located at:

2814 Stage Center Drive Bartlett, TN 38134

Call (901) 682-3546 to RSVP

Immediately following each seminar, subject matter experts from the National IEC office, will sit one on one with any contractor that submitted a Quote Re-quest Form to review the outcome of that specific quote. We encourage you to submit for a quote ASAP so that they will have the results of that quote to re-view with you on your specific needs.

YOU MUST RSVP !

SEATS ARE LIMITED !

REQUEST A QUOTE TODAY - You can get a “Quote Request Form” by calling the IEC at (901) 682-3546 or you can visit our website at www.midsouthiec.org to download this form. We encourage you to complete this form and fax it back to the IEC National Office at (703) 549-7448 ASAP so that they can bring your completed quote with them to personally review it with you while they are here.

New Health Plan Seminar / Q&A Session at the IEC

WATTS UP PAGE 3

2006 Spring Semester Class Schedule

January

Level Course Start Date End Date 3rd year Electrical Apprenticeship Class 1/9/2006 5/22/2006 1st year Electrical Apprenticeship Class (ABC) 1/9/2006 5/22/2006 4th year Electrical Apprenticeship Class 1/10/2006 5/23/2006 2nd year Electrical Apprenticeship Class (ABC) 1/10/2006 5/23/2006 Cabling - Mod III Introduction to Optical Fiber 1/10/2006 2/14/2006 1st year Electrical Apprenticeship Class - Paris TN 1/10/2006 5/23/2006 1st year Electrical Apprenticeship Class 1/11/2006 5/24/2006 2nd year Electrical Apprenticeship Class 1/12/2006 5/25/2006 4th year Electrical Apprenticeship Class (ABC) 1/12/2006 5/25/2006 Systems - Mod IV Security Systems 1/12/2006 2/9/2006 IN200 BICSI Installer Level II Training 1/27/2006

February

Level Course Start Date End Date 2002 NEC Course 2/20/06 4/17/06 Systems - Mod V Audio and Sound Systems 2/16/2006 3/16/2006 DD200 RCDD Course 2/20/2006 2/25/2006 Cabling - Mod IV Intro to Grounding, Firestopping and Blueprint Reading 2/21/2006 4/11/2006

March

Level Course Start Date End Date Systems - Mod VI Broadband Networks 3/23/2006 4/13/2006

April

Level Course Start Date End Date Cabling - Mod V Introduction to Networking and Telephone Systems 4/18/2006 5/9/2006 Systems - Mod VII Building Automation 4/20/2006 5/11/2006

Here is the class schedule for the courses that will be taught in the 2006 Spring Semester. All of these classes are taught at the IEC’s training facility. Contact the IEC at (901) 682-3546 to learn more about these courses and how to register. New classes will be added to this schedule throughout the spring months. For the most current sched-ule, visit our website at www.midsouthiec.org.

Additional Classes:

The IEC is planning to develop additional classes throughout the year like a, Motor Controls, Fire Alarm and much more. If however you would like to see a specific course taught at the IEC, please contact an IEC representative by calling (901) 682-3546 and we’ll be happy to explore the possibilities of developing your specific course.

4 TH QUARTER– 2005 PAGE 4

CODE CLASS AT THE IEC The Mid-South IEC will be hosting a National Electrical Code Class starting 2/20/06 at 6:00PM here at the IEC’s Training Facility. This code class will be taught once a week for 9 weeks. Below is a course outline of what will be taught.

• Local Code • Local Amendments • Introduction to the NEC • NEC layout as the first step in successful navigation • How to quickly put yourself in the right chapter of the NEC • Find specific information in chapters 1 thru 4 • Key words and definitions that you must know • Installation requirements topics • Use and identification of grounded conductors • Branch circuits • Feeders • Branch circuit, feeder and service calculations • Outside branch circuits and feeders • Services • Overcurrent protection • Grounding • Finding specific answers from table 9 • How to quickly use ready information • How to properly use table 310-16 • Range calculations • Apartment calculations • House calculations and standards • Additional calculations • Practice Exam • Final night….Final exam and awarding of certificates

For details on how to register, contact the IEC office at 901.682.3546. Keep in mind...the more your employees know about the NEC the more likely they will do the job the right way the first time...thus saving you money.

New Leadership at the IEC

In this past quarter, the IEC has had its elections for the new Board of Directors and the new Officers for 2006. Below are the leaders of IEC for 2006: Cole Dennis Dennis Electric - President Tony George Anderson Electric - Vice President Brian Haines Pyramid Electric - Secretary Lloyd Chism Chism Electric - Treasurer Bobby Carlock R.T. Carlock Larry Cooper ARC Electric Randy Davis Davis Electric Jay Dickey Airways Electric David Ekmark Ekmark Electric Kevin Fleming State Systems Ralph Gusmus Gusmus Electric Sam Haynie AC Electric

WATTS UP PAGE 5

Local Code Amendments

Here are two Joint Electrical Code amendments from Memphis and Shelby County that the contractors may want to be familiar with. They are:

403.13.4.1 - Owned Vehicles - All trucks and similar vehicles used by electrical con-tractors or their employees shall be conspicuously displayed on the body of both sides of said vehicle, in any color in contrast to the color of the vehicle's body, the following identification: the full name of the firm to which it belongs, in lettering at least two inches high on the top line, followed by MSC Registration number in lettering at least 1-1/2 inches high. 403.13.4.2 - Vehicles For Temporary Use - In the event a contractor obtains a vehicle for temporary use, he shall be permitted to identify said vehicle by placing on it, in a clearly visible position on both sides, a temporary sign or decal letters, which may be easily removed. Said temporary sign or letters conform to the same requirements as the permanent lettering described hereinabove.

PAGE 6 4 TH QUARTER– 2005

Christmas Party at the IEC Each year the IEC’s Christmas Party gets larger and larger. And on December 6th at the German-town Country Club, there were over 70 in attendance to share some Christmas Spirit.

These lovely ladies definitely were having a wonder-ful time.

Tom Wack (Desoto County Electric) left and Tony George (Anderson Electric) right, having a great time at the party.

Bob and Jean Johnson ...always with a smile on their face.

Randy and Sherry Hoard (Eagle Electric Sales) in the holiday spirit.

Tim Sammarco having fun playing the “Steal the Gift Game”

WATTS UP PAGE 7

Christmas Party (cont.)

During the Christmas Party we paid tribute to three special individuals that have been an important part of the IEC. The three individuals are Karl Ekmark, Frank Fuchs and Jay Weatherington. These individuals have been on the Board of Directors for the past several years. This year they decided to take a well deserved break from being on the board and they are rolling off of the board on 12/31/05. We would like to thank them for being a steadfast leader to the IEC and the industry. Your leadership will be missed. We look forward that someday these professionals will want to serve on the board again at the IEC.

Did you know ?!?

Did you know that as a Mid-South IEC Contractor Member you have access to 76 Tool Box Talks that are on the secure part of the IEC’s website.

Tony George (right), Karl Ekmark (center) and Walt Czyrnik (right)

Tony George (right), Jay Weatherington (center) and Walt Czyrnik (right)

Tony George (right), Frank Fuchs (center) and Walt Czyrnik (right)

4 TH QUARTER– 2005 PAGE 8

Grounding for Lightning Protection

Lightning is an awesome, naturally occurring event that causes thousands of injuries and deaths, as well as billions of dollars in property loss annually. Though unpredictable, lightning is a very common event around the world. There are over 40,000 storms every day producing over eight million lightning strokes resulting in fires, structural damage, and breakdowns to electrical, telephone and computer installations. Damage results from electromagnetic fields from the lightning stroke, voltage differentials in ground systems, and structural damage from ohmic heating or mechanical forces. This damage can be attributed to insufficient (ESE & CTS) or non existent direct strike protection, inappropriate grounding and bonding that allow lightning current to flow near susceptible electronics, and deficient Transient Voltage Surge Suppression (TVSS) protection. The best approach to prevention is a properly designed and in-stalled lightning protection (LP) mitigation system – reference NFPA 780, UL96 and UL96A for LP equipment and proper installation procedures. The foundation upon which the LP sys-tem is built is a properly designed grounding electrode system, complemented with proper bonding practices to create an equipotential plane and the application of TVSS to all power, communication and data signal lines.

To properly employ a LP system, the designer needs to understand the nature of lightning and the implications to electrical grounding. The properties of a lightning stroke are indeed impres-sive, with a instantaneous power of over one Megawatt and, on average, a peak current level of 30,000 Amperes. There are three main lightning interactions that the designer needs to con-sider. First is the direct lightning stroke; this is when the stroke terminates on the facility. Sec-ond is the near stroke, where the lightning stroke induces large voltage impulses in metal con-ductors, either due to magnetic induction or capacitive coupling. Capacitive coupling can also occur due to cloud-charge buildup. Finally ringing results occur when a tuned cable captures similar frequencies from the radiated stroke. Since lightning has a broad spectrum of high fre-quencies, it can induce a large impulse onto the wave-guide or coaxial system at its tuned spec-trum causing equipment malfunction or damage. The primary protection scheme for ringing is surge suppression.

The most popular methods of lightning protection involve the use of passive Franklin air termi-nals, horizontal and vertical conductors (Faraday Cage) or combinations of both. The charac-teristics of the ground system under the impulse conditions of a lightning stroke are important if an effective LP ground system is to be implemented. The LP ground system needs to provide low ground impedance and not just a low resistance. The impulse from a lightning stroke is comprised of both high frequency and low frequency components. The impulse rise times to peak typically vary between 0.1 to 10чs. The high frequency is associated with the fast rising front while the lower frequency component resides in the long, high-energy tail. Because of this steep rate of current rise, the inductance of the ground system becomes s central point of the design. The system voltage rise is dependent not just on the system resistance but also on its inductive reactance. The voltage rise can be expressed by the following formula, where L is the inductance of the system (mH) and di/dt (kA/msec) is the current rate to peak of the im-pulse.

V = I • R + L• di/dt

WATTS UP PAGE 9

Grounding for Lightning Protection cont.

It is possible for a point on a structure to reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of volts relative to remote earth, due to the lightning stroke. The dominant factor attributed to the im-pressed voltage is the product of the inductance and the rapid rate of current from the impulse. Therefore, a low impedance ground is essential to the performance of the LP system. The LP ground system needs to dissipate the energy from the lightning stroke into the earth, safely and efficiently. Equipotential bonding is used throughout the installation to eliminate damage caused by differential ground potentials and to provide safe step and touch potentials. The Na-tional Electric Code requires that the grounds from all systems including, power, cable, tele-phone, and LP be bonded together. The LP grounding system must be robust and constructed from materials that will perform for the service life of the structure that it is protecting. Inductance and skin effects are the major considerations in selection of conductors, connectors, and installation practices. Radials con-structed of flat strip or cable and typically embedded in a ground enhancement material, are the most effective electrodes in reducing ground potential rise (GPR) and directing lightning en-ergy away from the point of injection. This is especially important in high resistively soils where a high concentration in the electric field around an electrode may cause arching in the soil. Such arching, with its high temperature, will fuse the soil into a glass material (fulgurites) that is insulating. Other commonly used electrodes include ground rods, plates, and enhanced or electrolytic rods. Finally, exothermically welded connections provide the lowest inductance path for high frequency lightning surges while providing the highest level of reliability – they are mandatory for below-grade connections to prevent deterioration due to corrosion. Knowing the soil resistivity is important since the resistance of a ground electrode or a com-plete electrode system is directly proportional to soil resistivity. Reference IEEE Standard 81 for information on testing soil resistivity and the ground resistance of an installed ground elec-trode system. The designer needs to know just how conductive the soil is before beginning a design. The resistance of the installed system will contribute to the overall GPR during the transient event; therefore the resistance of the ground should be as low as possible, typically under five ohms. Finally, an effective inspection and periodic maintenance program is needed to ensure that continuity exists throughout the ground system. Annual testing is recommended to verify system integrity. Curtis R. Stidham is the Manager of Product Development and Application Engineering for Harger Lightning & Grounding. Harger Lightning & Grounding is a leading manufacturer of lightning protection and grounding equipment, as well as Ultraweld exothermic welding mate-rials for the communications and electrical industries. Harger also provides design and engi-neering services and specializes in offering total systems solutions for their customers. Leg Harger apply its systematic approach to total system protection to provide you the most cost effective solution to protect your personnel and equipment against the effects of electrical tran-sients.

PAGE 10 4 TH QUARTER– 2005

These Industry Partners Support the IEC as Associate Members! Please keep them in mind when making your next business decision:

American Home Inspector Training Institute

CED

Computer Environment

Cooper Crouse-Hinds

Cummins Mid-South

Cutler-Hammer

Dyna-Bright Lighting of Memphis Eagle Electric Sales

Federated Insurance

First Financial Group

First Light Lighting

1st TN Bank-David Warlick

Fortier Loss Control Consultants

GE Supply

Graybar

Harris, Madden & Powell

Hill Manufacturing Company

HILTI

Industrial Automation Controls

Jackson, Shields, Yeiser, Holt & Speakman

Leviton Mfg.

Menard, Gates, and Mathis

NES

Perkins-Everitt Lighting and Controls

Ram Tool & Supply

Rental Service Corporation

Rhodes Electrical Sales

Siemens

Spectrum Lighting & Controls

Thomas & Betts

Thompson Power

TVESCO

Welcome our newest IEC Associate Member

Hill Manufacturing Company Ken Newton (901) 606-6671

WATTS UP PAGE 11

An IEC Contractor and a Judge ?!? Congratulations to Anita Haines from Pyramid Electric. Anita was selected to be a judge for the South Central Construction’s Best of 2005 Awards. These awards were decided in September and was recognized during the South Central Construction’s awards luncheon on December 1st at the Peabody in Memphis. Anita was one of six judges that had to select from 43 nominations in 10 different construction categories and one design category. All of the nominations were accepted from the construction and design industries at large. Thanks Anita for making a difference in the industry.

Additional IEC Members’ Resources

As an IEC member there are certain on-line resources that are available to you at the National IEC’s website in the “Member’s Area”. Below are just some of the resources that are available to you: • Complete the IEC National 2006 Davis-Bacon Wage Survey • 2006 Legislative Issues Survey Results • Sample Davis-Bacon Letter • Order IECU Convention Educational Session Recordings • Download IECU Convention Education Session Handouts • News • One Minute Ideas • Policies and Practices to be Prepared for Organizing • 2004 Salting Manual • The Future of Salting • Common Sense Interviewing Tips • Judge Finds that DOL May Derecognize California Apprenticeship Council • Calling All IEC Forum Members! • IEC Updates - IEC Connection • Union Opposition to Apprenticeship Bill • Building and Construction Trades Letter - Davis • Bacon Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Guidelines to determine exempt status • IEC's Electrical Apprenticeship Curriculum Must Evolve to Address Changes You can take take advantage of these documents by going to www.ieci.org If you do not have a user name and password to acces these items, call the National IEC office at (800) 456-4324.

Mid-South Independent Electrical Contractors, Inc.

Mid-South IEC Officers

President Cole Dennis cdennis@denniselectric.com Vice President Tony George tgeorgeaec@bellsouth.net Treasurer Lloyd Chism lloydchism@bellsouth.net Secretary Brian Haines brian@pyramidelectric.net

Board of Directors

Bobby Carlock bobby@rtcarlock.com Larry Cooper arcelecco@aol.com

Randy Davis dmdavis1@aol.com Jay Dickey aelectr1@midsouth.rr.com

Karl Ekmark karl@ekmark.com Frank Fuchs ffuchs@concentric.net Ralph Gusmus ralph@gusmus.com Jay Weatherington jayvw@bellsouth.net

Staff

Executive Director Walt Czyrnik walt@midsouthiec.org Executive Assistant Vicki Czyrnik vicki@midsouthiec.org

Some people are content to go through life

watching opportunities pass them by.

They are known as the couch potatoes of life.

We’re on the Web! www.midsouthiec.org

2814 Stage Center Drive Bartlett, TN 38134

Phone: 901-682-3546 Fax: 901-682-4496

For a complete schedule of events, please visit our website at www.midsouthiec.org and click on “calendar”