Where a flexible cord may not go

The cord itself is rarely the problem. It is the right gauge, it has a plug on it, it was bought for the job. The problem is the twenty feet of it running through a doorway, or stapled along a joist, or disappearing behind a wall because somebody needed an outlet on the other side and there was a cord on hand.

There is a list of places a cord may not go. But that list is not the first question, and reading it first is how people get the wrong answer.

First: which standard is yours

Two federal standards carry the cord rules, and they do not say the same thing. Which applies is decided by the work, not by the building.

The Part 1926 standards apply, according to their own provisions, to every employment and place of employment of every employee engaged in construction work, and construction work is defined as work for construction, alteration and/or repair, including painting and decorating (29 CFR 1910.12(a) and (b)). Work that is not construction generally falls under Part 1910 as general industry.

For this trade a further paragraph settles a common argument: 1910.12(d) says construction work also includes erecting new electric transmission and distribution lines and equipment, and altering, converting or improving existing ones. So line construction is construction work. Operating and maintaining existing lines is not; that work is general industry, under 1910.269.

One caution before the rules themselves, because they do not reach everyone. The general-industry cord rules sit in the Subpart S design standards at 1910.302 through 1910.308, and those sections carry a scope paragraph of their own. It excludes certain installations under the exclusive control of electric utilities, by purpose and by location (1910.302(a)(2)(v)), so work on a utility's own transmission and distribution installations is a different question from the one this page answers. Whole sectors sit outside Part 1910 too — agricultural operations most sharply, where 1928.21(b) switches off Part 1910 subparts B through T and subpart Z, Subpart S among them, except for a short list that does not include the electrical standards. Longshoring and marine terminal work have their own parts, though 1910.16 keeps Subpart S in force for marine terminals, and for longshoring where shore-based electrical installations provide power for use aboard vessels. If that is your work, settle scope there before anything below.

• General industry — 1910.305. Twelve permitted uses, six prohibited ones.
• Construction, alteration or repair — 1926.405. Eight permitted uses, five prohibited ones.

The permitted list comes first, and it is closed

In general industry, flexible cords and cables may be used ONLY for twelve things (1910.305(g)(1)(ii)) — grouped here into nine lines:

• Pendants, and wiring of fixtures.
• Connection of portable lamps or appliances.
• Portable and mobile signs.
• Elevator cables, and wiring of cranes and hoists.
• Connection of stationary equipment to facilitate frequent interchange.
• Prevention of the transmission of noise or vibration.
• Appliances where the fastening means and mechanical connections are designed to permit removal for maintenance and repair.
• Data processing cables approved as part of the data processing system.
• Connection of moving parts, and temporary wiring as permitted in paragraph (a)(2).

Because the word is "only", a cord doing none of the prohibited things can still fail: if the use is not on that list, it is not permitted. The cord also has to be approved for the conditions of use and the location (1910.305(g)(1)(i)) — a cord rated for a dry interior is not made acceptable outdoors by being the only one on the truck.

On construction work the permitted list is shorter — eight items at 1926.405(g)(1)(i). It has no entry for portable and mobile signs, data processing cables, connection of moving parts, or temporary wiring. Construction temporary wiring is not an item on that list; 1926.405(a)(2) governs it directly instead — and that paragraph names cord on its face, requiring temporary feeders and branch circuits to be run as multiconductor cord or cable assemblies or in raceway. Open conductors are allowed as well — for branch circuits the regulation lists them alongside cord, for feeders after it — but on conditions: for feeders, "where not subject to physical damage ... on insulators not more than 10 feet apart", and for branch circuits, located where they will not be subject to physical damage and fastened at intervals not exceeding 10 feet (1926.405(a)(2)(ii)(A) and (B)).

Why it mattersThis is the half that is easiest to skip, and it is usually the half that answers the question.

Then the prohibited list — which is subordinate to it

Unless specifically permitted otherwise in the permitted-use paragraph, flexible cords and cables may not be used (1910.305(g)(1)(iv)):

• Standing in for the fixed wiring of a structure.
• Run through a hole in a wall, ceiling or floor — any hole, not only one you drilled.
• Taken through a doorway, a window or any similar opening.
• Attached to a building surface.
• Concealed behind a building wall, ceiling or floor.
• Installed in a raceway, unless Subpart S allows it there.

Read the first one again, because it explains the other five. A flexible cord is not building wiring, and each of the rest is a different way of making it behave like building wiring — fixing it in place, hiding it, routing it through structure.

On construction the same list runs to five: no raceway item, and the doorway item carries an express exception, "except as permitted in paragraph (a)(2)(ii)(I)" (1926.405(g)(1)(iii)(C)).

Why it mattersNote the lead-in. These prohibitions are not free-standing — they yield to the permitted-use list. But the two standards set different bars: general industry excuses a placement only where (g)(1)(ii) specifically permits it, while construction excuses one that is necessary for a use permitted by (g)(1)(i). Both subordinate the prohibitions; general industry is the stricter test.

If you came here for the NEC

Most people asking this question are thinking of the NEC rather than OSHA, and they are not the same document. The NEC keeps its own rules for flexible cords in Article 400 — a uses-permitted section and a uses-not-permitted section — and those sections were renumbered: what older editions carried at 400.7 and 400.8 sits at 400.10 and 400.12 from the 2020 edition on. If you are checking a job against the NEC, work from the edition your jurisdiction has actually adopted, because adoption lags and the numbering moved underneath it.

The two lists run closely parallel without being identical. What is on this page is the federal OSHA rule, which binds covered employers whatever code edition a jurisdiction has adopted; the NEC binds where an authority having jurisdiction has adopted it. On most jobs both are live at once, so the answer that holds is the stricter of the two.

Why it mattersThis page is the OSHA half. It will not tell you what your adopted NEC edition says, and it is not a substitute for reading it.

The plug detail people miss

Three of the twelve permitted uses carry an extra condition about how the cord is connected. Where the cord is used for connecting portable lamps or appliances, for connecting stationary equipment to facilitate frequent interchange, or for appliances designed to permit removal for maintenance and repair, it has to be equipped with an attachment plug and energized from an approved receptacle outlet (1910.305(g)(1)(iii)).

In plain terms, for those three: it plugs in. A cord hard-wired at one end into a junction box and feeding an appliance at the other is not the permitted use it resembles. The other nine carry no plug requirement.

Temporary wiring, where most of this actually lives

In general industry, temporary wiring is a permitted cord use — and it is not a gap in the rules. Paragraph (a)(2) has requirements of its own, and they cut against instinct.

It is scoped by voltage and by purpose. Temporary electrical power and lighting installations of 600 volts nominal or less may be used only during and for remodeling, maintenance or repair of buildings, structures or equipment and similar activities; for not more than 90 days for Christmas decorative lighting, carnivals and similar purposes; or for experimental or development work and during emergencies (1910.305(a)(2)(i)). Above 600 volts a different list applies — tests, experiments, emergencies or construction-like activities — with no 90-day category and no entry for remodeling, maintenance or repair (a)(2)(iii).

In a temporary installation it must be supported. Cable assemblies and flexible cords and cables are to be supported in place at intervals that ensure they will be protected from physical damage, using staples, cable ties, straps or similar fittings installed so as not to cause damage (1910.305(a)(2)(xi)). Outside a use the list specifically permits, that same staple is the violation — fastening a cord to a building surface is on the prohibited list.

Temporary branch circuits may not be laid on the floor. No branch-circuit conductor may be laid on the floor (1910.305(a)(2)(v)(C), inside a paragraph scoped to branch circuits; the construction twin is 1926.405(a)(2)(ii)(B)). That does not reach every cord on site — an extension cord to a portable tool is not a branch-circuit conductor — but a temporary branch circuit run loose across a work area is exactly what it names.

Why it mattersThose two together are the trap: for a temporary branch circuit, "fixed to nothing, lying on the floor" feels like the cautious answer and is the configuration specifically ruled out.

And it ends when the job does. Temporary wiring is to be removed immediately upon completion of the project or purpose for which it was installed (1910.305(a)(2)(ii)).

So the first question about the cord that has fed the same machine since March is not how long it has been there — it is what purpose it was installed for, and whether that purpose is on the list. A production machine feed is not remodeling, maintenance or repair of a building, structure or equipment, nor a similar activity, nor Christmas decorative lighting, a carnival or a similar purpose, nor experimental or development work, nor an emergency. Duration still bites twice, though: the Christmas-and-carnival category is capped at 90 days, and anything that has outlived its purpose has to come out.

Where this bites on a real job

The doorway, and this is where the two standards genuinely part. On construction, temporary wiring gets an express way through: the prohibition at 1926.405(g)(1)(iii)(C) is written "except as permitted in paragraph (a)(2)(ii)(I)", and that paragraph says flexible cords and cables may pass through doorways or other pinch points if protection is provided to avoid damage. Permission, conditioned on protection.

General industry has no such exception. Its doorway item at 1910.305(g)(1)(iv)(C) carries no express exception of its own, and the temporary-wiring paragraph opens "Except as specifically modified in this paragraph, all other requirements of this subpart for permanent wiring shall also apply to temporary wiring installations" (1910.305(a)(2)). The nearest thing to a doorway rule there, (a)(2)(x), requires that flexible cords and cables be protected from accidental damage, as might be caused, for example, by sharp corners, projections, and doorways or other pinch points — a duty to protect, not a permission to pass through. It adds to the prohibition; it does not modify it.

Why it mattersThis is the one to get right. Sleeving a cord through a doorway is the cautious-feeling move, and in general industry it leaves you inside a prohibition with no way out. Under either standard, the clean answer is not to route it through the door.

The staples. For an ordinary cord use, 1910.305(g)(1)(iv)(D) prohibits attachment to building surfaces and sets no condition about whether the fastener damaged the jacket. The temporary-wiring support rule at (a)(2)(xi) does set one — the fitting must be installed so as not to cause damage. Which use you are in decides whether the staple is the violation or the compliance — and the permitted-use list supplies the answer. (g)(1)(ii)(L) permits temporary wiring "as permitted in paragraph (a)(2)", and (a)(2) keeps the rest of the subpart in force "except as specifically modified in this paragraph". (a)(2)(xi) is such a modification: it requires that cable assemblies and flexible cords and cables be supported in place, in the form of staples, cable ties, straps or similar fittings installed so as not to cause damage. A support fastening that paragraph calls for is therefore inside the use (g)(1)(ii) specifically permits, and the lead-in carries it past (g)(1)(iv)(D). Nothing in (a)(2) permits routing a cord through a doorway, which is why that one does not work the same way.

No grandfathering. The use rules at 1910.305(g)(1) are on the list of requirements that apply to all electrical installations and utilization equipment "regardless of when they were designed or installed" (1910.302(b)(1)). That the cord was there before you were is not an answer.

The hole you drilled. Making the hole yourself does not turn it into a raceway or turn the cord into a cable. It is still a cord run through a hole in a wall.

What to do instead

If the need is permanent, the answer is fixed wiring — a receptacle where the equipment actually is, rather than a cord reaching to where one happens to exist. That is the direct answer to the first prohibition, and it removes the condition instead of rearranging it.

If the need is genuinely temporary and the purpose is one the rule allows, then support it, keep temporary branch circuits off the floor, keep it out of structure, and protect it anywhere it passes a pinch point. Those four are where cord runs tend to come apart. They are not the whole of paragraph (a)(2), which also governs where feeders and branch circuits originate, grounding and equipment grounding conductors, disconnecting means, and lamp guarding — and on construction, cord type: extension cord sets used with portable electric tools and appliances are to be of three-wire type and designed for hard or extra-hard usage (1926.405(a)(2)(ii)(J)).

And if you cannot say which of the two standards covers the work in front of you, settle that first. Every answer above depends on it.

This guide is general information to help you check your work. It is not legal advice or an official inspection, and it does not replace the requirements that apply to you, the manufacturer’s instructions, or a determination by an inspector or the authority having jurisdiction. Requirements vary by location and change over time; check the current rules where you work.