An important amendment, affecting intruder alarm installers, has been made to the Building Regulations Part ‘P’, electrical Safety in dwellings, which comes into force on 1 January in England and Wales.

The National Security Inspectorate said installers were at risk of being disadvantaged by the requirements of Part ‘P’, where all minor electrical work in kitchens and other special locations, such as bathrooms, would have needed to be notified to local council Building Control departments.

Although it said the new legislation improves standards, the NSI was concerned that its drafting needed to be clarified. The deputy Prime Minister’s Office has confirmed that it intends “to amend the regulations to make it clear that work on ELV (very low voltage, eg 12 and 24V) signal wiring in kitchens is non-notifiable”.

The NSI, with the support of the BSIA and ECA, was instrumental in persuading the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to make the amendment. NSI director of standards and certification Richard Norburn said the amendment would avoid “unnecessary complications for installers of electronic security systems”.

“Installers will be able to install very low voltage items such as detectors and keypads without having to notify their local Building Control office,” Norburn said. The regulations still require all electrical work to meet the full technical requirements which all NSI-approved companies comply with.

Source

Security Installer