IHEEM 2022 AE CONFERENCE
Paul Harris, Chair of the IHEEM Electrical Technical Platform. ‘‘
The hierarchy of work-related guidance and legislative documents for electrical installations.
Paul Harris: “Once either a European or harmonised standard is published, the UK must accept the technical intent of that European standard – except for those exceptions”
have the current version of BS 7671. Look in the inside cover of it, and it says that BS 7671 compliance is regarded by the HSE as likely to achieve conformity with relevant parts of the Electricity at Work Regulations. In other words, compliance with BS 7671 is a major contributor to compliance with the law.” Below this in the electrical standards
and regulations ‘hierarchy’, Paul Harris went on to explain, were what Brian Kirk had described in his address as the ‘cookbooks’ – such as the IET Guidance Notes, HTMs, SHTMs and WHTMs, along with ‘other guidance’.
Differences from the old standard Looking next specifically at BS 7671, Paul Harris noted that, historically, BS 7671 was ‘slightly different to the other standards’, and as part of that move to standardisation of British Standards, it now has an implementation and withdrawal date. He said: “With this, JPEL 64, the national committee responsible for BS 7671, needs to look at the implementation of agreed harmonised documents. “The difference is that BS 7671 isn’t BS EN 7671; it’s in fact our own national wiring standard. It is also referred to as the ‘Wiring Regulations’, which is unique, in that it’s not really regulations in legal terms. The ‘status’ came about after the Royal Charter was granted by King George V. The next publication, in 1927, became known as ‘Regulations’, which gives the document a perceived importance over its former title of ‘Rules’, a title still used in other countries.” He continued: “In terms of implementing
BS 7671 as the national wiring standard for the UK, we also have to implement Special National Conditions (SNCs), which is where we differ from a BS EN.
44 Health Estate Journal August 2022
One example Special National Condition, and a simple one,” he explained, “was that – historically – the UK used to forbid (electrical) sockets in bathrooms, but if you were to go to the continent, with which we have harmonised standards, you will see socket-outlets close to the sink (and, as such, the bath or shower). We have relaxed our SNC a little in this area, but still have differences compared with the rest of Europe in locations containing a bath or shower, as well as other specific topic areas; this is why we have Special National Conditions.” Paul Harris went on to explain that in the UK, the Wiring Committee, JPEL 64, must also implement ‘non-conflicting national requirements’ – items relating to specific nuances in electrical installations in the UK. He said: “We are thus allowed to flex the standard to our own interpretation of the technical intent of the harmonised document (HD), so that’s where there is a slight deviation from the format of a BS EN document.”
Consultation He continued: “What we have to do is to consult with the relevant organisations and the public in terms of a draft for public consultation, and with every British Standard we must also apply BS 0 (2021): A standard for standards - Principles of standardization.” Turning to where BS 7671 had originated, the speaker said it had come from the IEC 60364 series of documents. Paul Harris explained that the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) authors all electrical standards related to electrical and electronic matters and technologies. It comprises 173 countries, over 10,000 standards, and 20,000 ‘experts’. Although ‘based on worldwide consensus’, the
documents may, he said, contain clauses not acceptable to some countries. “For example,” he explained, “the UK is sometimes slightly at odds with the main document, as are France and Germany, and various other countries. To achieve consensus with such a large number of stakeholders, we identify exceptions that we, (or another country) can’t accept. These are recorded as SCNs, which are recorded for all countries to note.” He said: “The IEC 60364 series of documents are the base documents we refer to – the International Wiring Standard – which is a series of documents related to specific areas of electrical installations in buildings. Where there is no other harmonised standard, the UK will take the IEC document, interpret the technical intent, and then choose whether to put it into BS 7671. If we then look at European standards, we have CENELEC – the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization – the electrical equivalent of CEN.” Paul Harris explained that CENELEC
consists of 34 Member Countries, 13 affiliate countries, and five cooperation agreements, for instance with Canada and other areas not in the European area, along with an informal agreement with the USA.
How IEC standards are produced Turning to how IEC standards are produced, Paul Harris explained that “we normally start with a ‘New Work Proposal’ from member states to the IEC secretariat, just like the ISO standard”. He identified that while the process is underway there is usually a parallel voting process, so CENELEC will arrange for the mobilisation of a Working Group (WG) to work up the CENELEC version of the document, with both documents usually then produced in a parallel process. He said: “So, for instance, if we take IEC 60364-1, parallel to this is HD 60364 part 1. The IEC document will contain ‘informative annexes’, which are non-mandatory; in other words, a national committee may choose to ‘take it or leave it’, as appropriate. However, with an EN or
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