Electrical safety expert Bureau Veritas has welcomed a U-turn on plans to change the labelling of new electrical installations as part of the 18th Edition of the Wiring Regulations.
Published on July 2, 2018, clause 514.12.1 of the BS 7671 – IET Wiring Regulations initially sought to increase the font and size of electrical installation labels from the existing A3 format (as per the 17th Edition of the Wiring Regulations). The change was due to apply to all new electrical installations from January 1, 2019.
However, following widespread industry concern that complying with the new rule would prove unnecessarily costly and disruptive, the British Standards Institute (BSI) and Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has now abandoned plans to change the label format.
In a corrigendum published December 2018, which is an official notice to highlight and correct errors in the regulations, the BSI issued a u-turn, stating that the labels will remain in their original layout.
Michael Kenyon, Technical Manager at Bureau Veritas, says, “Electrical contractors will certainly be glad to hear this change in labelling format for electrical installations will not be going ahead after all.
“As wholsalers currently stock standard size labels, in the run up to the implementation of the 18th Edition of the Wiring Regulations, there were widespread industry concerns that complying with the change in format would require a complete redesign – a potentially disruptive and expensive process. Therefore, it’s great news the BSI and IET have listened and decided against a change in labelling, a move which will be much simpler for contractors and all those concerned. “Overall, we welcome these new regulations and the onus on improving fire safety across the board. However, we understand that compliance can be complicated, so our advice to contractors is to invest the time in familiriasing themselves with all aspects of the 18th Edition to ensure all work meets the new standard.”
Bureau Veritas offers a range of testing and certification services to support customers in managing compliance around electrical safety in general for new and existing installations or for specific areas, such as electric vehicle charging points.