Basic insulation exposed in electrical outdoor meter box.

Surly all the great minds have more to say on this topic? Is is satisfactory or unsatisfactory? Cast your vote and hopeful come the 4th edition this will no longer be permitted 

AMK said:

Cast your vote and hopeful come the 4th edition this will no longer be permitted 

I can advise this debate doesn't fit the timeline for Amendment 4. DPC comments closed in November 2024, and new work proposals were completed in advance of the DPC.

It would have to be part of a subsequent amendment ... but if the discussion in the industry never happens, we won't ever see any proposals.

I did try to advise earlier in the discussion, that the concept of preventing access to ordinary persons by limiting access only 'by the use of a key or [a] tool' is a concept that has a long history in electrotechnical standards for both products and installations ... a bit of background that's important to consider if we want to change these words in some standards.

(I put the [a] in brackets because, in BS 7671, the term appears with and without the second 'a', and both appear across electrical safety standards in English in general.)

How far back does this terminology go in the Wiring Regulations?

It first appears in the 15th Edition (1981) alongside the introduction of 'skilled person. and associated terms. 14th Edition used terms like "accessible only to authroised persons' and 'not accessible to unauthaurised persons' (before the terms 'ordinary', 'skilled' and 'instructed' were in use.

The terminology was also used in other electrical safety standards from earlier in time.

BS 3456-1:1969 Safety of household electrical appliances - Part 1: General requirements recognizes only a 'tool' rather than a 'key or tool' for gaining access to hazardous parts... but then again the same concept is present in it's current equivalent, BS EN IEC 60335-1:2023+A11:2023.

(The difference between an installation vs domestic appliances, is that installations aren't just domestic, and may have large items of switchgear and controlgear, for example, access to which is limited by key or tool ... hence the early use of the term 'key or tool' in BS 5486-1 Low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies. Part 1: Specification for type-tested assemblies (general requirements) (the current modern equivalent being BS EN IEC 61439-1).

AMK said:

Cast your vote and hopeful come the 4th edition this will no longer be permitted 

I can advise this debate doesn't fit the timeline for Amendment 4. DPC comments closed in November 2024, and new work proposals were completed in advance of the DPC.

It would have to be part of a subsequent amendment ... but if the discussion in the industry never happens, we won't ever see any proposals.

I did try to advise earlier in the discussion, that the concept of preventing access to ordinary persons by limiting access only 'by the use of a key or [a] tool' is a concept that has a long history in electrotechnical standards for both products and installations ... a bit of background that's important to consider if we want to change these words in some standards.

(I put the [a] in brackets because, in BS 7671, the term appears with and without the second 'a', and both appear across electrical safety standards in English in general.)

How far back does this terminology go in the Wiring Regulations?

It first appears in the 15th Edition (1981) alongside the introduction of 'skilled person. and associated terms. 14th Edition used terms like "accessible only to authroised persons' and 'not accessible to unauthaurised persons' (before the terms 'ordinary', 'skilled' and 'instructed' were in use.

The terminology was also used in other electrical safety standards from earlier in time.

BS 3456-1:1969 Safety of household electrical appliances - Part 1: General requirements recognizes only a 'tool' rather than a 'key or tool' for gaining access to hazardous parts... but then again the same concept is present in it's current equivalent, BS EN IEC 60335-1:2023+A11:2023.

(The difference between an installation vs domestic appliances, is that installations aren't just domestic, and may have large items of switchgear and controlgear, for example, access to which is limited by key or tool ... hence the early use of the term 'key or tool' in BS 5486-1 Low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies. Part 1: Specification for type-tested assemblies (general requirements) (the current modern equivalent being BS EN IEC 61439-1).