I often have need to access the plethora of BS documents that pertain to my area of work. I have the current versions of 5839, 5266 and a number of others that I refer to regularly. However, this morning I wanted to check something relating to a water mist suppression system but I don’t have access to the appropriate standard. I used to have access through one provider but that was a significant sum on an annual basis. All I needed was there, although, interestingly, BS7671 was not. Sometimes I just need a quick confirmation of some individual item in a standard that I don’t commonly use, no doubt like other professionals who will require access to BS7671 for something that would not warrant the purchase of the full standard.
You will note that reference to other standards pervades 7671 itself. Wouldn’t it be healthy for the construction industry in general to have access to these standards without having to pay a fortune? Surely if we want competence to underpin the way we build and install, the way to do that would be to make appropriate information as freely available as possible.
Perhaps some kind of pay per view might be reasonable.
