Outstandng 18th Oddities

I have to say that I have pretty much given up on following the wiring regulations to the letter. Most of it is nonsensical and wholly unrelated to real world problems.

Badly drafted, badly worded and wholly confusing.

I pretty much pick and mix across editions these days - it's the only practical method of getting things done within a reasonable timescale at a reasonable cost to the end-user.

It began to get silly with the RCD-everything in sight, followed rapidly by changing values to accomodate some mysterious thing called 'cmin', then to cap it all, we moved to metal consumer units and now AFDs/SPDs.

The whole thing is geared to churn the market for the manufacturers to sell us the next big wheeze.

This has rendered it pretty much to nothing more than a sales catalogue in my view.


When you begin to see that you actually need a guide to the guide to the regulations, you just know that whoever wrote/compiled them didn't have to deal hands-on with the aftermath of confusion in implementing them in practise.

A lot of the wiring regulations is simply designed to stimulate heated discussions with others whilst propping up the bar at The Bucket and Puke Arms.


It seems to have been contrived by the technical elite to justify their existence. Whilst a lot of the wiring regulations content is reasonable, some safety issues rely on chance occurrences such as in  Chapter 44 where information to the average sparks is not available or is clouded in mystery.


Trying to understand some parts of B.S. 7671 is like trying to understand complicated legal issues, it  makes the head hurt. But the cover colour is very pretty though.


Z.

And then there is this, as though current confusions are not enough......


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OhAfHMMoUU



Z.

Zoomup:

Trying to understand some parts of B.S. 7671 is like trying to understand complicated legal issues, it  makes the head hurt.

Drafting rules of any sort, be they statutes, technical specifications, or sporting is not an exact science. The same goes for contracts and agreements of other sorts. That is why we have lawyers.

Don`t beat about the bush here. If you have critisms let`s hear them ?


Oh man! Where to begin!


Having been a time-served apprentice from 77-81 in the aerospace industry, working on a widen spectrum of kit, then moving to self-employed status back in 2002 I don't know where to begin.

I did the 15th during my wee pappy youth stage, then qualified to the 16th and 2391 when I moved to self-employment, the whole plot has gone downhill since without good reason other than to screw up the clarity for those at the 'coal face'.. At least it seems that way.


It isn't just in our sector either. The phenomena seems to prevail across the board, which leads me to ask the question: are we being run by a shower of incompetent fools? Or is someone out there deliberately trying to ferk this country up?


Local Govt, NHS, Police, law & order, local authorities, the judicial system, etc etc.

At one time, we could run things pretty smoothly without unnecessary interference, but have you noticed that what formerly worked, albeit imperfectly, actually worked, but no longer does?

There seems to be a deliberate blurring of the edges whereby confusion and disarray are introduced into what was formerly an adequate but imperfect system which was well-founded on first principals but which now results in a paralysis of understanding of what would have previously been accurately predicted outcomes.

It is as if chaos has been deliberately introduced to all of our vital systems.

The latest wiring regulations are an archetypal example of this in my view.


To summarise, the sad thing is; that when regulations become so incomprehensible to those who have to apply them, then they are ignored.

Well said sir.


In the 19th century "Outdoor Relief" was charitable relief given to deserving people outside of charitable institutions. John Bright said that outdoor relief kept the aristocracy off the streets and in useful employment.


John Bright (1811-89) was the one who called the English parliament "The mother of parliaments".


Now I am not overly political, but his words of 12th May 1858 in Birmingham generally ring true now.


"This regard for the liberties of Europe, this care at one time for the Protestant interest, this excessive love for the balance of power, is neither more nor less than a gigantic system of outdoor-relief for the aristocracy of Great Britain."


Z.

I am with WJ on this and I blame word processors for part of the problem. Prior to the widespread use of word processors there was no cut and paste, no insert a word/line/paragraph/page, the whole document or page would need to be retyped depending on the change. This typing would be done by a typist often in the typing pool. So in every handwritten/dictated  original each word or sentence would be considered and thought about. If you made too many changes to the original you would find the typing pool became "very busy" and you would be waiting over a week for your amendments. Alternatively you could type it yourself using one finger and lots of Snowpake (other makes available). Now, no one thinks so much as it is copy and paste, insert stuff here recirculate lots of times following numerous small amendments just because we can and the idea of thinking about things thoroughly before producing has gone out of the window and documents become so wordy and with so many revisions people don't bother to comment on all the amendments and rubbish gets output.


The second problem is the advent of value engineering and the control of accountants and marketeers over the business decisions. Design outweighs functionality and everything is engineered financially to the bone and beyond. Ignoring price can anyone recommend a really good double socket in white plastic?


Thirdly is related to OMS' footnote and the underlying value engineering. Rather than train people to do the job properly and allow them to make decisions a process is designed that can be followed by untrained/minimally trained employees at close to minimum wage. This process is then computerised and everything becomes a tick box exercise. How many times following a major problem often resulting in death do you here we followed our processes correctly, lessons will be learnt! When what they mean is our process was inadequate to stop us taking the blame and we will now change our process so the next time this happens it won't be our fault. No thought of training staff and giving them the power to make decisions.


Finally for me this was brought home when a surgeon I know told me he had physically assaulted a patient. He had been forced by the process, waiting time limits and an obnoxious patient who was going to complain to eveyone, to perform an operation that he believed was unnecessary. Fortunately the outcome was good but this was a major consideration in him taking early retirement from the NHS.


We're doomed, we're all doomed I tell you. ?


Kevin

I wonder how much is imposed by the EU. I remain convinced that the U.K. is the only one who plays by the rules.