David Shapiro

Experience

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  Lehigh County Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse

  Jan 1978 - Jan 1979

  Day Treatment Program Coordinator

  Provided individual and group therapy for a group of chronic alcoholics.

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  Safety First Electrical

  Jan 1980 - now

  Principal

  I have engaged in Electrical Contracting for 40-odd years, specializing in making old and unreliable wiring safe. This part of my business largely is over, and I expect to shift almost exclusively to consultation and inspection--unless I take a different route yet. Electrical Consulting was a favorite activity, including inspections, depositions, and content review.Electrical Safety Education was another--sometimes one-on-one, other times via seminar presentations, and frequently through my writing. Show less

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  David E. Shapiro, Writing & Editing

  Jan 1983 - now

  Principal

  Writing and Editing of books, columns, feature articles, newsletters, and meeting reports.I authored a column on residential work for Electrical Contractor magazine's print edition for 20-plus years.Primary foci: safety; electrical work; psychology; customer relations; health; and the interface of science and policy.

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  Mensa SIG for Electricians, Inspectors, Engineers and Interested Others (eieio)

  Jan 1983 - Feb 2018

  Group Coordinator, newsletter editor and publisher, contact person

  We were a heterogenous group of intellectuals affiliated with or interested in the electrical industry. I co-founded it with Stuart Bridgman, an engineer from the UK, later living in New Zealand. Our primary activity? Interacting through our monthly eight-page newsletter, The Flexible Conduit, whose name synced with the group's initialism. The last issue I published for the group was #361, February 2018. Our archives contain a wealth of material on electrical safety.

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  International Association of Electrical Inspectors, GW Chapter

  Dec 1993 - Oct 2023

  Secretary-treasurer

  Some of my work was to be expected: uploading content for the web site, sending out notices, reporting on meetings, and submitting Continuing Education requests. I also represented the DC area on the Eastern U.S. board most of this time. In addition, I served as the go-to person since the death of Art Hesse, who revived or recreated this group. When an office was vacant or an officer was absent, I filled in to make sure that what the group needed got done. Generally, this meant I arranged programs as well. Being an authorized and experienced CE provider, I was prepared to fill in with a short seminar when a speaker fell through. In March 2013, I presented "The Case of the Common Neutral," a Powerpoint-type show on why and how the NEC gets changed. In November 2015, I presented "Kill it!" a slide show on dangerous electrical systems, focusing primarily on one residence. The condition of its panelboard drove me to call in the AHJ. The inspector came by that afternoon, and agreed that the panel needed to be disconnected--and disconnected till the indoor-rated enclosure on the roof was replaced, and the soaked panel and much of its contents changed out. In 2017, I presented histories of Ground-Fault and Arc-Fault Circuit Interrupters, GFCIs and AFCIs, both technological and Code; the rules for their application; the disputes over their value and use; and expanded requirements in the 2020 NEC.My final CEU-approved presentation talked about changing the rules. How can you make your voice heard in the NFPA process? I've actively participated for many years with proposals ("PIs"), Comments ("PCs"), and one floor motion at the NFPA Technical Session. How can you impact the safety standards that UL publishes? I participate in several Standards Technical Panels. Show less

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  DES-Publishing

  Jan 2010 - now

  Principal

  After my first two books were published by McGraw-Hill, I worked with W.Creighton Schwan on his final work, Behind the Code: NEC(R) History. DES-Publishing was created primarily to get Behind the Code to the electrical safety community. The book's purpose is partly to help you decide whether a particular electrical installation, one that doesn't comply with today's rules, qualifies for grandfathering. An even more important purpose is to help you make sense out of Code rules. What was the substantiation behind new requirements? What was deficient in the former rules?At this point, the book is available solely by mail order: contact me directly for details.After all Creighton's articles and columns, his generous committee work and consulting, and his many revisions of Herb Richter's how-to books Practical Electrical Wiring and Wiring Simplified, he gave us Behind the Code. This is the one book you can read that Creighton Schwan himself fathered. Show less