EP 100: EICRs, which edition 

Thanks Paul & John, a common question I'm often asked and you've hit all the saliant points here.

Excellent podcast and well argued. Nice to hear from John a bit more too. The way I approach it is to think of the concluding statement of the condition report: is this installation SATISFACTORY or UNSATISFACTORY for safe continued use. For me that makes coding much easier. For example taking a different view on non-RCD protected lighting circuits in an old flat, vs in a nursery etc…

Thank you for your insight into this thorny subject. When I did the CG2931 course in 2006 I remember the lecturer saying "you are the inspector - you have to use your knowledge and experience to decide how to judge the risks according to the usage and the environmental conditions of the installation" and that "BS 7671 is not a rule book upon which black and white assessments can be made." It was the word knowledge that posed a question in my mind. How do you gain knowledge? In our world it is often from direct experience. The rate of change in technology and installation practice is reflected in the number of BS7671 Editions and ammendments spanning the past 20 years, compared to the duration of the 16th for instance. Are newly qualified electricians taught the history of BS7671 and how installation technology and methods have changed?

Great podcast as ever chaps. Regarding clients wanting testing done to old editions; I would like to think if the failures are bad enough (C1 & C2) that you *may* find the same breached reg in the older edition they're wanting you to code to, so you end up with "Yes Mr Smith I did as you requested.....oh look this breached regulation even existed back then...." I have yet to get the subtly placed Grenfell book, I'm still working through "Catastrophe and Systemic Change: Learning from the Grenfell Tower Fire and Other Disasters" by Gill Kendrick Keep up the great discussions!

I cant help but draw a comparison to cars; take classic cars (defined as cars from prior to 1966); they are exempt from requirements for seatbelts but will likely still pass an MOT, this is in spite of whst we now know on the effectiveness of seatbelts and saving lives - the argument is below The argument against retrofit of seatbelts is that the cars are well looked after by people with sufficient knowledge and, so long as the MOT is passed then all is fine and dandy, despite our advances in car safety. 😂 Applying this to EICRs then; We get an old install with Wylex (other brands are available) 3036 boards, we are doing the exact same; we know better is out there in terms of technology and protection and honestly (much like with the above cars; IT is wrong). Yes the install has worked flawlessly for decades but weve moved on, past 3036s and cartridge fuses because of the potential danger to users changing wire/fuses for whatever is to hand. We should at the very least (especially in domestic) by putting out foot down a d saying 'no, the minimum acceptable standard of providing overcurrent is an MCB. If we dont then who will? To steal a phrase from the man himself; "Be the brick wall' To steal another from the man himself "The installation is life expired".There is always going to be financial issues when it comes to rewiring etc but thats the customers concern and dhould not come into our judgement. There is, as with everything that cost vs reward analysis but who else is in the position to improve installations? If the client doednt want to upgrade the kit then fine ubut we should not be complicite in keeping ancient kit in place just because it works, not when our understanding and methodology has moved on leaps and bounds. The exception to this would be additional protection via RCD i would say, as we have other ways to provide a similar level of protection in the EEBADoS model - yes thty can still disconnect bonds etc but the primary protection of ADS is still catered for. I may have gone off on a waffle but it makes sense in my head. There are comparisons between the 2 and advances in both cases to improve safety but we're not enforcing better protection in either case.

Excellent podcast Paul. Don’t want to say anything more on EICRs as I don’t want people shooting me down, because they think I’m wrong and don’t like or respect my opinion. I will say this whatever the HSE notes in BS7671 and on page 99 of the onsite guide says we should always test to the current edition of bs7671 .