ECA welcomes corrigendum to 18th Edition Wiring Regulations

The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and BSI have published a new corrigendum to the 18th Edition Wiring Regulations (BS 7671:2018+A2:2022).

ECA has welcomed the changes and corrections in the corrigendum, which help to clarify the requirements of the 18th Edition (BS 7671:2018+A2:2022) and the intent behind the regulations.

The corrigendum makes changes to several areas of BS 7671 and comes into effect immediately.

ECA advises electrotechnical and engineering services contractors to note in any relevant documentation that they are completing projects to this corrigendum, to avoid any confusion going forward.

Gary Parker, Senior Technical Manager at ECA, says, “This corrigendum introduces several small, but very important, changes to the Wiring Regulations which ECA members and the wider industry need to be aware of. Among these is a change to protected escape route requirements, SPD requirements, and a brand-new regulation relating to protected escape routes for medical locations.

“ECA’s dedicated Technical Team will provide further detailed information for ECA members, including a breakdown of the changes and what members can do to stay compliant.”

ECA’s Technical Team offers support across a wide range of electrotechnical activities. ECA members can access exclusive application guides, editable certificates, guidance notes, technical bulletins, and access to the ECA Technical Helpline.

Areas of change include:

• Regulation 422.2 has been amended to clarify the scope of the provision.
• Indent (ii) of regulation 443.4.1 has been removed. The term safety service, formerly included in regulation 443.4.1 (ii), encompassed a wide range of systems. The provision, therefore, had unintended consequences for improvements to fire safety systems within installations.
• Table 443.2 and the note to regulation 534.4.1.1 have been amended to remove examples of equipment.
• Regulation 701.1 has been amended to remove the reference to birthing pools.
• A new regulation, 710.422.2.201, has been included in order to modify requirements in regulation group 422.2 for protected escape routes in healthcare facilities.