Mythbuster #13 – The four amendments to the rumour-mill

One: The IET ‘write’ BS 7671; don’t care about electrical safety; are in it to make money; change it too often; make money for old rope; charge too much money for it, etc…

Social media is awash with such accusations, and it is often said that the IET write BS 7671, being blamed for its content accordingly. Actually, the IET is just the secretariat for the joint IET/BSI committee (JPEL/64) working on behalf of the industry.

While the IET is responsible for the managing of JPEL/64 and its subcommittees, the editorial aspects and pulling it all together, it is actually the industry itself that reviews and governs the technical content. As for the people who write it, that starts at an international level…

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has a variety of technical committees (TCs), maintenance teams (MTs) and working groups (WGs) that develop international standards. The origins of BS 7671 are in IEC 60364 Low voltage electrical installations.

This is taken by the EU standardization body CENELEC, which in turn publishes harmonized documents (HDs) for the HD 60364 series with the same titles. Member states (including the UK) publish national standards based on HD 60364 accordingly. In the UK, it is published as one standard as BS 7671, in Germany, it is published in separate parts under VDE 0100 and in France, as NF C15 for example. The “Preface” in BS 7671 explains the origins quite well.

As a result, very few requirements in BS 7671 are ‘home grown’. The few UK specific requirements that are in the standard are identified by a regulation ending in a 200 number. These are typically introduced when JPEL/64 feel the need to expand on the requirements of the IEC 60364 series, or to reflect national practices or legislation. 

While the ‘wiring regs’ used to be a UK specific publication, that changed with the 16th Edition. Some readers will remember the harmonization process where the ‘Rules and regulations of the IEE’ were harmonized with the EU and published for the first time as British Standard 7671 in 1992. Amendments came thick and fast during that early period as the committees worked tirelessly to align our national requirements with the CENELEC harmonized documents. 

On the subject of cost, the UK is probably the cheapest source for the entire standard. In Europe, prices typically start at €330 for each part which is published separately (i.e. Part 1, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 and each Part 7 published separately etc.); to purchase all parts together puts the fee in the region of €7,000. British standard costs are usually based on page count and taking BS 7430 Code of Practice for Protective Earthing of electrical installations as an example, it costs £348 for 98 pages (£3.55 per page). 

BS 7671, at 640 pages for £125, works out at 19 pence per page, which is astonishingly good value for a British standard (or even a European or international one). You even get 25 % off if you are an IET member!

The cost of BS 7671:2018+A2:2022 was £108 if purchased from the IET. However, IET members received a 25 % discount on that price. Since 2022 everything has increased in price, some things more than others. Using the Bank of England inflation calculator, it can be seen that the cost of £108 is equivalent to £123.73 in 2026. 

A new revision of BS 7671 is usually published every four years. That works out at 60 pence per week. 

Given that technology continues to grow and understanding of electrical safety measures regularly improves, it is wholly appropriate that standards are reviewed and, where necessary, updated.

For this reason, standards have a maximum review cycle of five-years to make sure they remain up to date and appropriate in a changing world. If not, we’d still be joining wires using the elaborate splicing and knotting techniques as published in the First Edition in 1882, and solar PV installations would not be allowed. 

Two: BS 7671 is too ambiguous and not helpful.

BS 7671 covers all electrical installations from the most simple to the most complex, temporary or permanent, and in pretty much every conceivable location. It is not possible to write requirements that cover every scenario for all types of electrical installation.

What is appropriate for a loading bay in courier’s warehouse would not be suitable for a loading bay in an oil refinery for example. Other guidance or standards may also apply and ‘departures’ from BS 7671 are permitted to allow the user to apply it appropriately for a given installation. 

It is often said that the IET should interpret the requirements of BS 7671 but therein lies a fine line. The only people that can interpret the requirements of BS 7671 are the user of the standard who would apply it in a manner appropriate to the nature of the installation, or a judge in a court of law. Clause 4.3.2 of BS 0:2021 A standard for standards states that:

“Responsibility for interpreting a standard rests with its user, informed where necessary by appropriate expert advice. Ultimately, the only body with the power to give a definitive interpretation is a court of law.”

As an example, Regulation 522.8.10 requires cables, conduits and ducts to be “buried at a sufficient depth to avoid being damaged by any reasonably foreseeable disturbance of the ground.”

Of course, ‘sufficient depth’ is open to interpretation as it depends on the location. A campsite with tent pegs abound or a field farmed by big tractors with deep ploughs are very different propositions to the flower bed in front of a house when considering what a ‘sufficient depth’ might be.

For this reason, it is not possible to provide a definitive interpretation as the IET does not know anything about individual projects.

What they can and do provide though, is plenty of helpful guidance.

The variety of guidance notes and other publications available from the IET are designed to help users interpret the requirements of the standard appropriately and to be able to apply it effectively. 

Three: Changes apply at the time of publication

In short, no, they don’t. There is a six-month period following publication when users can familiarize themselves with the changes. When that six-month period expires in October, the (now current) BS 7671:2018+A2:2022+A3:2024 will be withdrawn. The timeline can be summarized as follows:

• 15 April 2026: Amendment 4 published and may be used if required. 
• 15 October 2026: Amendments 2 and 3 withdrawn and Amendment 4 must be used.

A perennial topic of conversation relates to the implementation of current requirements on older installations, particularly when it involves modifications to an existing system.

Standards are not retrospective; in other words, an installation complying with a previous edition of BS 7671 is not necessarily unsafe, even if it may not be to the current level of safety. 

This is reinforced in the HSE’s “Note” in BS 7671 where it states:

“Installations to which BS 7671 is relevant may have been designed and installed in accordance with an earlier edition, now superseded but then current. That, in itself, would not mean that the installation would fail to comply with the Electricity at Work Regulations, 1989.” 

Of course, upgrading an installation to the current standard may improve the level of safety and a client may agree to that, but it is not a requirement. 

An exception to this rule is where equipment is installed that is not compatible with an existing installation.     

Four: The IET are out of touch and live in an ivory tower

The accusation that the IET are from an academic background and are not in touch with electricians could not be further from the truth.

 There are five people in the team within the IET responsible for the technical regulations, all of whom are already experienced and come from an electrical installation background designing and installing systems (which is a requirement in the job description).
 
All other committee members are active in the industry sectors they represent which is also a requirement of the British standards committee membership ‘job description’.

They are all very experienced in their respective fields, often representing member or contractor organizations, where they bring to the table a range of issues their contracting members face. It is these discussions that help refine the content of BS 7671, as well as feeding it back up the chain to TC 64, the committee responsible for IEC 60364. 

While not all committee members may use their tools on a daily basis anymore, they are often on-site, resolving issues, designing systems, liaising with members or verifying installations for example. 

The IET staff themselves work very hard, engaging in CPD and stay in touch with the electrical industry in many ways, including talks at trade shows, assisting electricians via the IET technical helpline as well as engaging with international standardization in this area.
 
As readers will know, doing electrical work can make a living, but enough to reside in an ivory tower? Sadly not…

Acknowledgements

• Joe Cannon
• Jon Elliot