A loose cable like in the photo above gets caught in the spring mechanism of a pull down folding ladder at the attic opening and frayed.
Is conduit required in attic.
Always check in with the local building code authority.
There are a few rules you need to follow but conduit is not one of them.
Damaged cables can cause a short circuit or even worse arcing that will start a fire in the attic.
It is not required by the nec in a residential attic.
Code requires that romex be installed in a conduit.
For this reason the nec has protection requirements for nm cables in an attic.
I m building a new home outside the city limits in liberty county in texas my electrician ran the main power feed wire from the meter through the exterior wall up into the attic and down into the breaker panel without any conduit.
It will be easier to repair wires if there is a short in the line.