On the New Terminology Introduced in Std. IEEE P3003.2 “Recommended Practice for Equipment Grounding and Bonding in Industrial and Commercial Power Systems”

The technical standard IEEE P3003.2 “Recommended Practice for Equipment Grounding and Bonding in Industrial and Commercial Power Systems,” published in the month of October 2014, is an evolution of Chapter 2 of IEEE Std. 142-2007 (also referred to as Green Book). P3003.2 has been developed by industry experts, based on their knowledge and experience in this field, and drafted after wide consultation and consensus. P3003.2 provides the fundamental concepts related to the grounding and bonding of equipment in industrial and commercial power systems. The main objective of the standard is to offer recommended practice for the minimization of the risk of electric shock by properly sizing conductors and allowing the prompt disconnection of supply. To better achieve this purpose, new terminology, not present in the Green Book, has been included in the standard. The objective was to facilitate the safety-by-design approach as well as align P3003.2 with other technical standards used worldwide. In this paper, the author, chair of the Working Group, seeks to clarify the new terminology, providing the proper interpretation and reasons behind it.