The British Standards Institute have now made the draft of the 18th Edition of the IET Wiring Regulations, BS 7671 available for public comments. Have your say in the new regulations.
Visit the BSI webpage for the 18th Edition, sign up with your email address, access the document and make comments. You have until 23rd August before the public consultation is closed.
When will the 18th Edition be published?
The planned publication date is 1st July 2018 and the implementation date for new installations to confirm to BS7671 18th Edition will be January 2019.
Electacourse have a number of offers to help our 17th Edition customers who are thinking whether to do the 17th Edition Course now or wait for the 18th Edition. See the chart below.
What changes are likely?
We reported before on possible changes, the draft publication now has details of the proposed changes. The colour of the 18th Edition looks like it is going to be Sky Blue, not the dark blue as we guessed before. Significant changes are:
Definitions
With every new edition or update of the Regulations, the definitions are updated and modified
Chapter 41 – Protection against electric shock
Significant changes are proposed throughout this chapter relating to disconnection times, circuit types, equipotential bonding, RCD protection, IT systems and automatic disconnection
Chapter 42 – Protection against thermal effects
Installation of arc fault detection devices to mitigate risk of fire
Chapter 44 – Protection against voltage disturbances and electromagnetic disturbances
Changes to specific sections and critically a requirement for risk assessment to be performed in order to determine if protection against transient overvoltage is required.
Chapter 46 – Devices for isolation and switching
New chapter to deal with non-automatic isolation and switching measures.
Part 5 – Selection and Erection of Equipment
Complete revision of Chapter 53 to cover protection, isolation, switching, control, monitoring and overvoltage. Changes to protection against overvoltage, earthing arrangements, protective conductors and other equipment including ground-recessed luminairs.
Part 6 – Inspection and testing
Completely restructured to align with CENELEC standards
Part 7 – Special installations or locations
A large number of small changes in many sections
Part 8 – Energy Efficiency
A major new addition to the Wiring Regulations to support the worldwide requirement to reduce the consumption of energy and how electrical installations can contribute to this effort, effectively and safely.
What can you expect from Electacourse?
Electacourse are already a leading provider of courses for electricians and students aiming to achieve their 17th Edition qualification. Together with other industry leaders, Electacourse will participate in the public consultation for the 18th Edition of the IET Wiring Regulations and will have courses and student material available as soon as the details of the 18th Edition are finalised.
For electrical contractors you will be able sign up to the Electacourse 18th Edition Online Course once it becomes available. If you would like us to keep you informed, use the contact form below.
For training companies and FE Colleges, we will be able to offer you a ‘white label’ 18th Edition Online Course. That is, you can sign up with Electacourse for a license to use our 18th Edition material to train your students. The material will be available to your students under your own branding. Use the contact form below and we will keep you up-to-date.
