CABLES & CONNECTORS FEATURE
Cabling and the invisible threat of non-compliance T
Jean Sebastien Pelland, director at Eland Cables, discusses regulation and compliance testing for cables and explains why it is important to get the cabling right and how this can be done
he number of new homes in England has risen by 15 per cent in the last
year, according to recent numbers from the UK Government. Since 2010, some 1.1m homes have been built while, in London, Sadiq Khan plans to put £250m towards buying and preparing land for new and affordable housing. And growth is not restricted to the residential sector. The London Bridge station rebuild has been a major focus in the capital and a glance at the skyline shows a city constantly developing. Powering all this is a busy construction industry and underpinning every project is a raft of materials. One crucial yet often overlooked aspect is the cabling. The quality of every construction depends on the quality of its cabling – so building firms need to ensure that the materials they source are truly fit for purpose. There are British, European and
international standards to define our cable construction and performance, as well as clear rules for compliance. Various industry bodies are charged with keeping standards up-to-date and fit for purpose, and the specifications they publish are stringent to safeguard safety and reliability. Our national standards body, the BSI (British Standards Institute) is part of CENELEC (the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation) and is bound as a member to adopt its recommendations on top of our own regulations, promoting uniformity in standards across the EU. There is no sign Brexit will affect this. In fact, it is an EU regulation that most recently added another construction compliance consideration for the cable world. The Construction Products Regulation (CPR) is a wide-ranging regulation that came into force in July 2017, classifying newly manufactured cables by their reaction to fire. Cables used for fixed installations must be tested for their flame characteristics and classified from A to F, with additional classifications for smoke emissions, flaming droplets, and acidity. However, despite the regulation and testing, it is still estimated that up to 20 per cent of all cables in circulation in the UK are either sub-standard, counterfeit or non-approved. For a commercial or industrial build, sub-standard cable can result in downtime, reliability issues and ballooning maintenance costs at best and major safety hazards at worst. For
residential projects, sub-standard cabling can be a dangerous time-bomb to families and a major business risk for developers. As such, non-compliance is a huge threat and would jeopardise the industry’s ability to deliver. In part, a big responsibility falls to the
site developers and engineers to be vigilant and take a proactive stance. They play a key role in ensuring only compliant products make it onto site, ready for installation.
UP TO STANDARD To the uninitiated, the sheer number of types of cable and the accompanying array of cable standards would be dazzling. There are cables for power, for data, for control and instrumentation; there are low voltage, medium voltage and high voltage cables; some cables are armoured or are fire-resistant; and they can be covered in a range of materials, commonly often PVC but also Low Smoke Zero Halogen (LSZH) compounds. For each cable or component material, there is a relevant standard (or series of standards) relating to all of these use- cases and characteristics, as well as specifications on how these should be tested for compliance. One such piece of legislation applied across Europe is the RoHS Directive (the Restriction of Hazardous Substances). This is designed to prevent products with
Jean Sebastien Pelland, director at Eland Cables
overly high levels of substances, including lead, mercury and hexavalent chromium, entering our supply chain; substances that can have a devastating impact on health. Any cables sold inside the EU need to be RoHS compliant and most are – however, it is essential to be absolutely certain. Similarly – in addition to CPR – there
are standards to determine the flame propagation (Vertical Flame Testing to BS EN 60331-1-2) and gas emissions of cables under fire conditions (BS EN 60754). For instance, PVC emits chlorine gas when burnt which, when mixed with water from the atmosphere, turns into hydrochloric acid. It also produces a thick, light-obscuring smoke that can cause both damage to sensitive equipment and prove a serious risk to the safe evacuation of anyone in the building. It is why Low Smoke Zero Halogen sheath materials are now mandatory for cables in public buildings and public spaces in the UK. They emit low levels of toxic fumes, 60 per cent less dense black smoke, and none of the acid gases.
Site developers and engineers play a key role in ensuring only compliant products make it onto site
REGULATING THE CABLE SUPPLY CHAIN Cable manufacture is now limited in the UK. The bulk of manufacturers of British and European standard cables are based in countries such as Italy, Spain, Portugal and Turkey. There is nothing wrong with
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