Re: One month to go until BS 7671:2018+A1:2020 is withdrawn….act now!

Question

I have just reveived an email from "IET Wiring Regulations". In it, it says:- 
 
 Do you carry out inspections for landlords? If you are performing electrical inspections for landlords of rented properties you must ensure that the installation is inspected against the most recent version of BS 7671. Staying up to date is imperative. 
 
 Am I wrong, or is that totally false? Looking at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/312/regulation/2/made , it says:- 
 
 &ldquo;electrical safety standards&rdquo; means the standards for electrical installations in the eighteenth edition of the Wiring Regulations, published by the Institution of Engineering and Technology and the British Standards Institution as BS 7671: 2018(3); 
 
 So that is a specific version of the Wiring Regulations, and not the new 2020 one.

Michael Peace · Answer

Hi Simon 
 I am from the IET tech Regs team and I have been asked to provide some clarification. 
 As already correctly pointed out by AJJewsbury, the decision to refer to the date of BS 7671:2018 specifically in The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, is intentional to avoid an ambulatory reference. An ambulatory reference is where a document is automatically updated each time the referred document is updated. This provides the opportunity for Government to consider amendments and new editions to BS 7671 and decide if it is necessary to amend the legislation accordingly. This is not unusual for Statutory Instruments, see section 3.17.1 of the Guide to Statutory Instrument Practice - 5th edition (November 2017). 
 The matter of which version is the correct version to use will depend on many factors, such as contract and workplace requirements. IET Guidance Note 3 Inspection and Testing provides guidance on inspection and testing but does not distinguish between privately rented properties and others. As already pointed out by Graham Kenyon, the IET guidance is that inspection and testing should be carried to the current edition of BS 7671. Essentially, the purpose of introducing amendments to BS 7671 is to increase the safety for users of electrical installations. 
 However, it is important to remember that the purpose of inspection and testing is to determine if the installation is safe for continued use. There may be observations noted which do not comply with the current edition of BS 7671, but that does not necessarily mean the installation is unsafe. It does not mean that the installation has to be compliant with every aspect of the current edition of BS 7671 and it is not necessary or helpful to formulate a list of works required to meet the current edition of BS 7671. 
 I hope this helps.

gkenyon · Answer

The IET's guidance on which standard to use for inspection and testing of electrical installations is covered in IET Guidance Note 3 (Section 3.12 in the 2022 Edition), and that position is supported by Note 2 to Regulation 651.2. 
 There would be little point in conducting a current safety inspection to a withdrawn version of a standard, as the results would be questionable. 
 
 Some notes from BSI on withdrawn standards (including where referenced in legislation and contracts - two distinct different cases) can be found here: https://memberportal.bsigroup.com/public/2017/january/the-uses-of-withdrawn-standards/

Re: One month to go until BS 7671:2018+A1:2020 is withdrawn….act now!

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