Building Regulations Part P has been amended and is now in force, as Voltimum shows

Before the 2005 introduction of Part P of the Building Regulations, records showed that about 10 people died and around 750 were seriously injured because of accidents resulting from dangerous electrical installations in the home. As the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister commented at the time: 'much unsatisfactory electrical work is carried out by over ambitious amateurs'.

Part P was designed to address this problem and drive out those electricians and installers who, through ignorance or faulty design and workmanship, caused such accidents. Part P, therefore, was (and still is) aimed at driving 'cowboy electricians' out of business, as well as protecting home owners from poor workmanship and making UK homes safer, and it had a significant impact on all electrical contractors and installers, not to mention DIYers, and all other involved in the design, installation and inspection of fixed electrical installations in homes.

Part P relates to BS 7671 (the IEE Wiring Regulations) - now BS 7671:2008 Amendment 1 (2011). The idea is to enhance the electrical safety of domestic electrical installation work in England and Wales by bringing the work under the control of the Building Regulations. Failure to comply with Part P is a criminal offence and local authorities can enforce the alteration or removal of any installation work that does not meet the requirements.

It is thought that, prior to introduction of Part P, some 40,000 electrical contracting companies in England and Wales were not working to the previously existing voluntary controls. With the advent of Part P, these companies had to improve their working practices, and as early as 1st January 2005, the NICEIC reported that over 10,000 businesses, in total employing more than 20,000 operatives, had registered with the organisation's Domestic Installer Scheme in order to be in a position to self-certify compliance with Part P. However, many realised too late that they only had until January 1st 2005 to become registered as a 'Competent Person'.

Such problems are long overcome, and Part P has been a great success. Since its inception, there has been a 17.5% reduction in domestic fires attributable to mains wiring faults, nearly 20,000 more electrician electrical contractors are having their competence assessed and samples of their work checked regularly, and there has been a reduction in the number of unregulated people carrying out electrical work. Moreover, it has become easier for householders to identify competent electrical installers.

Part P's scope:

Part P of the Building Regulations covers installations intended to operate at LV or ELV. These are:

• In a dwelling (houses or flats)
• Dwellings and business premises with a common supply (eg: shops or pubs with a flat above)
• Common access areas in blocks of flats (corridors & staircases)
• Shared amenities in blocks of flats (gymnasiums and laundries, but excluding lift power supplies)
• In or on land associated with the buildings (eg: fixed garden lighting and pond pumps), and in outbuildings such as sheds, detached garages and greenhouses (no longer covered unless a new circuit is required).

In order to comply with Part P, relevant electrical installations need to be:

• Designed and installed to protect against mechanical and thermal damage.
• Designed and installed so that they will present no electrical shock and fire hazard.
• Tested and inspected to meet relevant equipment / installation standards.
• Part P applies only to installations designed to operate at Low Voltage or Extra-Low Voltage.

Government wanted changes:

However, despite this success, the current coalition government wanted to reduce 'red tape' saying too much was bad for business, so - as well as the Cabinet Office's 'Red Tape Challenge', the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) enacted a package of deregulatory changes to the Building Regulations in 2012 to make sure that they 'continue to be up to date and effective'.

The DCLG published in December 2012 a combined summary of responses (see the PDF document entitled '2012 Consultation on Changes to the Building Regulations in England' - 1.11MB file size - elsewhere in this VoltiTECH) to its building regulations consultation package, which contained a range of proposals to improve the building regulations regime in England. These were:

• Section 1: consultation overview and proposals on various technical aspects of the regulations
• Section 2: energy efficiency of buildings (Part L)
• Section 3: electrical safety in homes (Part P)
• Section 4: changes to the building control system.

The DCLG also launched a review of the building regulations framework and voluntary housing standards in October 2012. The review aimed to achieve further deregulation where this would reduce unnecessary cost and complexity in the house-building process.

The result and main changes:

This Approved Document Part P of the Building Regulations 2013 still supports electrical safety in dwellings, and took effect from the 6th of April 2013 for use in England. It also applies to building work carried out on excepted energy buildings in Wales as defined in the Welsh Ministers (Transfer of Functions) (No. 2) Order 2009.

Note that the 2006 Edition will continue to apply to work begun before 6th of April 2013, or to work subject to a building notice, full plans application or initial notice submitted before 6th of April 2013.

The document itself is shorter and has greater clarity, and there is some reduction to the list of works that must be notified to the Local Authority Building Control (LABC). In particular, the main changes in the Approved Document are:

• The range of electrical installation work that is notifiable has been reduced. 'Notifiable' means work that is legally required to display compliance with the Building Regulations. Under the revised regulations, electrical work undertaken in kitchens or outdoors is no longer covered by Part P unless a new circuit is required.
• An installer who is not a registered competent person may use a registered third party to certify notifiable electrical installation work as an alternative to using a Building Control body. Previously, an electrical contractor undertaking work covered by Part P, but who was not him/herself registered with a competent persons' scheme, was required to notify local authority's building control - which could then determine whether the work was acceptable under the regulations. This eliminates the cost of producing Building Regulations Compliance Certificates for some minor works, but importantly, the new regulations still retain the need to issue Electrical Installation Certificate Reports (EICRs) for all work carried out within a dwelling.
• Reference is now made to BS 7671:2008 incorporating Amendment No. 1:2011.

Not all are happy. For example, while the Electrical Safety Council (ESC) has welcomed the government's approach to amending Part P, the organisation was also concerned over some of the changes. It particular, the ESC is disappointed with the proposed reductions in notifiable work, saying that 'both statistical data and anecdotal evidence indicates that kitchens and outdoors are high-risk areas, so any electrical work must be of a particularly high standard'.

Bearing in mind that Part P is the only legislation which protects individuals within their homes, the ESC argues that notifiable installations should continue to include kitchens and outdoors.

Certain other organisations are happier, saying (typically) that the new Approved Document has succeeded in simplifying Part P without compromising on safety. Therefore, the safety provided to domestic consumers should remain largely unchanged.

In conclusion:

Though a number of electrical sector organisations, the ESC among them, have rightly been concerned about the streamlining of Part P, the new document's emphasis on continued compliance with BS7671 (in this case BS 7671:2008 (Amendment No. 1 2011) means that the safety for domestic consumers is little changed in reality, and all electrical work still has to be carried out to the same high standards, even though it may not be notifiable.

However, there are still worries over third-party certification, as the rules for an Approved Inspector Scheme will need to be very clear and based upon sound knowledge of electrical industry best practise.

Note that it is likely that the regulations will be reviewed once again in 2015.

Approved Document Part P of the Building Regulations 2013 is now available and can be downloaded for free from the Planning Portal website (www.planningportal.gov.uk) or from this VoltiTECH. Please read more about the changes to Part P elsewhere in this VoltiTECH.

To learn more about Part P in general, please go to:

www.voltimum.co.uk/news/3130/infopro.newsletter.bulletin/voltibulletin---january-2005.html

www.voltimum.co.uk/news/2172/infopro.newsletter.bulletin/voltibulletin---august-2004.html

www.voltimum.co.uk/news/2059/infopro.newsletter.bulletin/voltibulletin---july-2004.html

But please be aware that these VoltiTECHs (the links above - then known as VoltiBULLETINs) go back to 2004/2005; even so, most of it is still relevant.