Safer Greenbelt

Unbiased electrical consultation.

Credentials: Electrical and Safety Writing

David tends to focus on writing for the purpose of teaching—both mass instruction and individual. "Individual instruction" means that individual readers, usually electricians, periodically contact him for help. He also helps other electricians, inspectors and engineers who need assistance in writing clearly, most commonly for audiences of electricians or inspectors, but sometimes in their efforts to raise public awareness of safety issues.

Electrical Publications

David's written about electricity and home safety for periodicals including:

• Redbook
• The Washington Post — see especially his December 14, 1989 article, "Hitting the circuit", for information useful to a homeowner.
• Practical Homeowner
• Fine Homebuilding (you can find David's articles in their "Best of" publication, and most recently in their February/March 2025 issue)
• New England Builder

The majority of his articles have been written for electricians, engineers, and inspectors. He's published in all the U.S. electrical trade magazines.

• He initiated a monthly Residential Wiring column in Electrical Contractor magazine, writing it for decades.
• He was hired to provide safety advice to colleagues in the online column, "Safewatch."
• His first book, Old Electrical Wiring: Maintenance & Retrofit (McGraw-Hill, 1998) was the only one on its subject. McGraw-Hill published the second edition, Old Electrical Wiring: Evaluating, Repairing, and Upgrading Dated Systems—a major revision—in 2010.
• His second book, Your Old Wiring (McGraw-Hill, 2000), serves readers who lack the background to get full benefit from the first book—including people with no electrical experience.
• With the late W. Creighton Schwan, he co-authored a third: Behind the Code (privately published). It explains the bases for many of our electrical rules. The third edition, nearly 500 pages long, was published in 2018.
• Earlier, he authored an award-winning safety column to Utility Fleet Management
• He also supplied articles for
  • National Safety Council publications
  • Public Power magazine
  and
  • IAEI News, when it was the inspectors' magazine.
• From 1983 to early 2018 he published and edited The Flexible Conduit, a monthly 8-page newsletter for intellectually inclined electricians, inspectors and engineers, affiliated with Mensa.
• New Jersey officials distributed materials David provided during 1993's National Electrical Safety Month
• Finally, decades back, he produced and validated a test, Safety Awareness for Electricity.