Alameda Municipal Code § 13-34 Electrical Appliances

1 Editor's Note: For provisions regarding the Electrical Code, see Section 13-4 of this chapter.

No person shall sell, offer for sale, loan, rent, dispose of by gift or premium, give or otherwise furnish, provide or make available for use any electrical material, device or appliance, designed or intended for attachment, directly or indirectly to any electrical system, circuit or electrical service for light, heat or power in the City of Alameda unless such electrical material, device or appliance complies with the provisions of this section.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. § 10-261)

All electrical materials, devices and appliances designed or intended for attachment, directly or indirectly to any electrical system, circuit or electrical service for light, heat or power shall be only those which conform with the requirements of this section and of rules and regulations adopted pursuant hereto. Each such article shall bear or contain the maker's name, trademark or identification symbol, together with such rating by the manufacturer as may be necessary to determine the intended use. The correct operating volts and amperages or volts and watts shall be stated and no person shall remove, alter, deface or obliterate any such marking.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. § 10-262)

All electrical materials, devices and appliances covered by and intended to be regulated by this article shall conform with the Code of safety standards for such materials, devices and appliances adopted and approved by subsection 3-34.14 of this section.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. § 10-263)

The City Council hereby declares that the national safety standards for such materials, devices and appliances on file in the office of the United States Bureau of Standards are the minimum standards required to provide an adequate degree of safety to life and property in the City, and further declares that it has incorporated the national safety standards in its "Code of Standards for Electrical Materials, Devices and Appliances of the City of Alameda."

The City Council hereby declares that there is need for uniformity between national safety standards and local standards and that it is one of the objects of this section that as technological progress and refinements are made in national safety standards that similar progress and refinements be made in local safety standards and to that end the City Council hereby declares that it is necessary that certain administrative rule making power be vested in the Superintendent of the Electrical Department of the City in order to carry out the intent and purpose of this section and to provide the City and its inhabitants with the degree of safety required to adequately safeguard life and property in the City.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. § 10-264)

Whenever the Superintendent of the City Electrical Department shall determine that there is a lack of uniformity between the national safety standards on file in the office of the United States Bureau of Standards and the code of standards adopted by this section, and as and when refinements are made in the national safety standards which have not been incorporated as a part of the code of standards hereby adopted, the Superintendent of the City Electrical Department is hereby empowered to adopt and promulgate such rules and regulations as he/she shall deem necessary to bring such code of standards into harmony with the national safety standards. Before any rule or regulation may be adopted hereunder, the proposed rule or regulation, in writing, dated and signed by such officer, shall be filed with the "Code of Standards for Electrical Materials, Devices and Appliances of the City of Alameda," hereby adopted. Three (3) copies of such rule or regulation shall be filed with the three (3) copies of the code on file in the office of the City Clerk. Such copies shall be available for use and examination by the public. Thereupon and thereafter such rule or regulation shall have full force and effect as though originally set forth in the code of standards hereby adopted.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. § 10-265)

Listing or labeling of materials, devices and appliances by the Underwriters' Laboratories, Inc., or other testing laboratory approved by the Superintendent of the Electrical Department as complying with standards on file with the United States Bureau of Standards may be accepted by the Superintendent as prima facie evidence of the conformity of such materials, devices and appliances with corresponding provisions of the code of standards of the City or of corresponding rules and regulations adopted hereunder.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. § 10-267)

Where no standards have been adopted for any such materials, devices or appliances, the Superintendent of the Electrical Department may require that such materials, devices or appliances be submitted to a testing laboratory or laboratories deemed qualified by him/her for testing same. Upon receipt of a report from such laboratory or laboratories, he/she may designate a standard for each such article submitted and tested, which designation shall be in writing and shall be adopted and promulgated as a rule or regulation in the manner herein provided. Any such standards so prescribed shall be designed to provide as a minimum the degree of safety to life and property as is required by the standards hereby adopted for materials, devices or appliances of similar or related character or nature.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. § 10-267)

Any approval granted by the Superintendent of the Electrical Department may be revoked by him/her if the electrical materials, devices or appliances are found to be hazardous to life and property for the purpose used or intended, or do not conform with the standards under which they were approved for use. Before any approval may be withdrawn, the Superintendent of the Electrical Department shall give five (5) days' notice in writing to the person to whom approval was granted of his/her intention to withdraw approval and shall afford such person an opportunity to be heard with respect thereto at a public hearing to be held thereon. In the event that approval is withdrawn or modified by the Superintendent of the Electrical Department after such hearing, any person aggrieved thereby may appeal from the ruling of the Superintendent of the Electrical Department to the City Council in the manner provided in subsection 13-34.13 for the consideration by the Council of appeals.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. § 10-268)

a. Materials Otherwise Covered. The provisions of this section shall not apply to electrical materials, devices and appliances which are the subject matter of regulation in the City building and wiring ordinances heretofore adopted and in effect as of the date hereof.

b. Vehicles. The provisions of this section shall not apply to motor vehicles or to motor vehicle equipment.

c. Low Voltage Devices. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any electrical system, circuit or electrical materials, devices or appliances designed or intended for attachment directly or indirectly to any electrical system, circuit or electrical service for light, heat or power operating at a primary voltage of not more than twenty-five (25) volts or consuming more than fifty (50) watts.

d. Special Appliances. The provisions of this section shall not apply to those industrial or commercial appliances which are to be used in a specific location and which have been submitted to a laboratory for approval to determine their conformity with the standards herein provided for but with respect to which final approval by such laboratory is still pending, providing that an exception is applied for and granted in the manner herein prescribed. The person desiring to make such installation shall submit an application in writing for such exception to the Superintendent of the Electrical Department accompanied by written evidence satisfactory to such Superintendent indicating that laboratory approval has been applied for. Such exception if granted by the Superintendent of the Electrical Department shall continue in force only during such time as such Superintendent believes that the testing laboratory will grant final approval certifying compliance to the prescribed standards. If for any reason the Superintendent believes that the testing laboratory has not made an adequate test of materials, devices or appliances, he/she may require that the same shall be submitted to some other laboratory, approved by him, for further tests.

e. Generating Devices. The provisions of this section shall not apply to electrical materials, devices and appliances installed by or for an electric utility for its use in the generation, transmission, distribution or metering of electrical energy.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. §§ 10-269—10-2613)

In the rebuilding or repair of any such electrical materials, devices or appliances all parts replaced or repaired shall conform in all particulars with the code of standards and the rules or regulations hereby provided for.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. § 10-2614)

The Superintendent of the Electrical Department is hereby directed to enforce the provisions of this section. He/she is hereby authorized to delegate any of his/her powers under this section to any of his/her assistants, with the sole exception of the power to adopt and promulgate rules and regulations, which power may not be delegated by him.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. § 10-2615)

This section shall not be construed as relieving or limiting in any way the responsibility or liability of any person owning and operating, controlling or installing any electrical materials, devices or appliances for personal injury or property damage resulting from the use thereof by reason of any defect therein or for any other cause, nor shall it be construed as imposing upon the City or its officers or employees of any responsibility or liability by reason of the approval of any materials, devices or appliances under the provisions of this section.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. § 10-2616)

In the event that any person believes that unreasonable restrictions or unnecessary and extraordinary hardship or damage will be imposed upon him/her by the enforcement of any of the provisions of this section or by the application of any of the standards hereby adopted or by the adoption or application of any rules or regulations by the Superintendent of the Electrical Department, or from any rulings or determinations of such Superintendent, such person may appeal therefrom to the City Council in writing and request a public hearing thereon by the City Council.

In the event of such appeal, the City Council shall fix a time and place for a public hearing thereon and shall give ten (10) days' notice thereof in writing to the person requesting such hearing by mail, postage prepaid to the address shown in such request, and shall also give notice thereof to the Superintendent of the Electrical Department. At the time fixed for such hearing or at any later time to which such hearing may be adjourned, the City Council shall proceed to hear the testimony of the appellant and of others in his/her behalf and of the Superintendent of the Electrical Department and others in his/her behalf and of other competent persons who may be present and desire to testify or who may be called by the City Council to give testimony at such hearing. Upon the conclusion of the hearing, the City Council shall, by resolution, declare its findings and decision in the matter. If it finds that unreasonable restrictions or unnecessary and extraordinary hardship or damage will be imposed upon the appellant then it may grant an exception or variance from the application in whole or in part of such rulings or determinations, or it may modify, rescind or otherwise alter such standards, rules and regulations, rulings or determinations, provided that in granting such an exception or variance or in taking such other action as it may deem justified, it may do so only in the event that such action may be taken in harmony with the general purposes and objectives of this section to preserve the public health, safety and welfare. The decision of the City Council rendered after a hearing held in the manner prescribed herein shall be final and conclusive.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. § 10-2617)

That certain document composed of twenty-seven (27) paper bound pamphlets, numbered one (1) to twenty-seven (27), both inclusive, bound together under a single cover and designated "Code of Standards for Electrical Materials, Devices and Appliances of the City of Alameda," three (3) copies of which are on file in the office of the City Clerk and marked "Filed Feb 18 1946 J.P. Clark City Clerk of Alameda," is hereby adopted as the Code of Standards for Electrical Materials, Devices and Appliances of the City of Alameda.

(Ord. No. 535 N.S. § 10-2618)