The MSE team made its international debut in Germany in June. We headed over to Hanover to complete cable tray containment work for our friends at Moon IT and Unique Integrated Systems Limited.
We successfully installed over 1km of suspended tray work with 1700 support wires and 850 channel supports. Our thanks go to Baks Kazimierz Sielski, Patrick Kubica and Midshires Electrical & Lighting Limited. We received outstanding assistance to source the materials, and we were very impressed with the kit.
As you would expect, there were challenges around the logistics and supplies. Despite this, we finished a day and a half ahead of schedule. As always, we were very proud of the team’s hard work and ‘can do’ attitude.
Electrical installation standards in Europe
While the UK’s Wiring Regulations (BS 7671) mostly match European standards, there are some differences.
Founded over 100 years ago, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) develops standards for everything from switches to lasers. Restrictive standards won’t work in many different countries which is why IEC rules come in parts. It’s important to have the right sections and the latest amendments.
CENELEC (Central European Normalization Electrotechnique), set up over 50 years ago, is the European Committee for electrotechnical standardisation. It has a specific committee responsible for the European electrical installation standards and protection against electric shock. If these standards change, each country must adopt them, but this can conflict with national requirements. If this happens, there are special processes to decide whether the standards are requirements or for information and guidance.
In the UK there’s another special committee managed by the BSI and the IET to develop the UK’s Wiring Regulations. Representatives come from a wide range of UK organisations involved in the electrical industry. The committee makes sure our practices are consistent with those in Europe. However, there are also some variations.
So, this explains why there are regular updates to the Wiring Regulations – in case you have ever wondered.
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