Electrical services Regulations
contractors, according to Leon Markwell, chief engineer of Icel Group and secretary of CIBSE’s ESG and Facilities Management Group. He says: ‘Engineers need to know a fantastic amount
S
afety is of paramount importance in the electrical services sector. It overrides every other consideration, and that is one of the reasons the sector is so heavily regulated.
Today’s consultants and contractors working in the building services and built environment sectors are required to know a wide range of regulatory developments. These include the new IEE Wiring Regulations
(BS7671:2011), construction product directives, Building Regulations and how they affect energy modelling – which can have a bearing on electrical design, metering requirements, and design for safety and facilities management. Tony Sung, chairman of CIBSE Electrical Services
Group (ESG), says: ‘Since energy and carbon go together, electrical professionals must also know how to apply low carbon and sustainable energy technologies, as well as how to provide clients with whole-lifetime costs of the proposed systems to ensure the investment in electrical services has a good return in investment value too.’ However, this strong emphasis on regulation does throw up problems for electrical services consultants and
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now about regulations and statutory issues, and I feel that it’s getting to the stage where it’s no longer possible to keep up to date and absorb it all and still do a meaningful and profitable day’s work.’ The flood of new regulations and standards in the
UK may also have other effects, says Lindsay Moody, technical manager at NG Bailey, a member of CIBSE ESG: ‘[Large organisations like NG Bailey] can afford to pay for directories and web-based databases that store all the latest standards. So, for people in my organisation for example, it is easy to access all the latest standards. Some of the big consultancies can probably also afford that. ‘The difficulty comes with small design consultancies
or electricians. They have to buy each individual standard because to subscribe to one of [the web-based standards databases] might cost £30,000 to £40,000 a year, which takes it out of reach for many smaller companies. They have to buy the standards one at a time as and when they need them. The result is that it restricts the work they can do.’
Training squeeze
However, legislation is not the only issue impacting on the electrical services sector. Another is training, says Sung: ‘Companies cut training to deal with recessions, but put themselves at a disadvantage because they are >
June 2010 CIBSE Journal
33
iStock/ Fertnig Photography
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