Kitchen switch pulled at final inspection

The answer

The bare equipment grounding conductors are spliced and folded into the plastic box with no pigtail to the switch's green grounding screw, so the switch and the metal plate it will carry are ungrounded.

Correct choice: 1. The switch is not connected to the equipment grounding conductor

404.9(B) requires snap switches, including dimmers, to be connected to an equipment grounding conductor and to provide a means to ground a metal faceplate whether or not one is installed. In a metal box the mounting screws can do it; in a nonmetallic box the only path is an EGC or bonding jumper on the switch's grounding terminal. Here the grounds are crimped together and tucked away, so the stainless plate on the counter would be screwed to an ungrounded yoke, inches from a sink and a grounded faucet. If a hot conductor nicks the yoke or a wet hand meets a faulted plate, nothing clears the fault. 250.148(D) also requires EGCs in a nonmetallic box to be arranged so a connection can be made to any device that needs one.

How to fix it

Code references

• NEC 2023 404.9(B) — Grounding

  Snap switches, including dimmer and similar control switches, shall be connected to an equipment grounding conductor and shall provide a means to connect metal faceplates to it whether or not a metal faceplate is installed; metal faceplates shall be connected to the EGC. Where the switch is not mounted by metal screws to a grounded metal box or cover (or to a nonmetallic box with an integral grounding means), it is grounded by an EGC or bonding jumper connected to its grounding termination.

  Drills citing 404.9(B)

• NEC 2023 250.148(D) — Nonmetallic Boxes

  One or more equipment grounding conductors brought into a nonmetallic outlet box shall be arranged so that a connection can be made to any fitting or device in that box requiring connection to an equipment grounding conductor.

  Drills citing 250.148(D)

• NEC 2023 404.2(C) — Switches Controlling Lighting Loads

  Where switches control lighting loads supplied by a grounded general-purpose branch circuit serving bathrooms, hallways, stairways, or habitable rooms, the grounded conductor for the controlled lighting circuit shall be installed at the switch location, except under listed conditions such as raceway wiring with room for it or a box accessible for adding a cable later.

  Drills citing 404.2(C)

2026 NEC:renumbered to 406.40-406.44 (exact section unconfirmed). The 2026 NEC moved general-use snap switches, dimmers, and control switches from Article 404 to Part III of Article 406. IAEI reports the 404.9(B) grounding rule for snap switches and metal faceplates was carried over unchanged into the 406.40 to 406.44 group, but the exact new section number was not confirmed. Confidence: medium

Minnesota

Why the other choices are wrong

• A switch within 6 ft of the sink must be GFCI protected. 210.8(A) GFCI requirements apply to receptacles, such as those serving kitchen countertops or within 6 ft of a sink; a wall switch controlling a light is not covered.
• The white neutral must land on a terminal of the switch. 404.2(C) requires the grounded conductor to be present at the switch location, and it is, spliced in the back of the box; an ordinary snap switch has no neutral terminal.
• Nothing. This installation is compliant. In a nonmetallic box the switch yoke and the metal plate are grounded only through the switch's green screw, which is left empty here.