Caught my apprentice using NM staples on MC cable yesterday

I walked over and saw him hammering those plastic NM staples into a bundle of 12/2 MC. Had to stop him and show him the difference. Those staples pinch the armor and can actually damage the conductors inside over time. He said his last foreman never said anything about it. I've been doing this for 22 years and I see this mistake at least once a year on a new jobsite. How do you handle teaching the younger guys the small stuff that can cause big problems down the line?

2 comments

2 Comments

stella_roberts20h ago

Nothing wrong with a little "creative fastening" I guess, as long as you don't mind coming back to fix it in a year when the insulation chafes through. Metal cable gets metal fasteners, it's not a complicated equation. I usually just hand them the right stuff and say "if it sounds like you're stapling a bag of rocks, you're doing it wrong." The cheap lesson now beats the expensive fix later every time.

parker5431h ago

Funny thing about foremen and their "never said anything" line. My first foreman taught me to hang MC with zip ties once and I thought that was gospel until a journeyman ripped them all out and handed me a box of proper clips. Some habits just spread because nobody wants to be the guy who slows down production to argue about staples.