Protective bonding conductors: an IEC point of view.

Bonding plays a crucial role in maintaining continuity of the equipment grounding path. A clear path to ground allows a prompt response of the protective devices, located upstream of the fault. Protective bonding conductors are called for by IEC Standards as a specific safety requirement. Through the years, we have been assisting in the proliferation of "jumpers" as PEs used both in equipment and in mere metal parts. Their presence, in some cases, is quite useless and adds extra cost to the customer. In this paper, introducing concepts, as operative tools, like exposed-conductive-part (ECP) and extraneous-conductive-part (EXCP), as used in IEC standard, it will be substantiated that protective bonding conductors, in certain cases, have even resulted in lowering the above mentioned safety requirement, exposing users to additional risk of electric shock