1

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 C&G UNITS 201/5.1: HEALTH AND SAFETY IN

CHAPTER 2 C&G UNIT 202: PRINCIPLES OF ELECTRICAL SCIENCE 61

CHAPTER 3 C&G UNIT 203: ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION TECHNOLOGY 131

CHAPTER 4 C&G UNIT 204: INSTALLATION OF WIRING SYSTEMS AND

CHAPTER 5 C&G UNIT 210: COMMUNICATING WITH OTHERS IN

ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING QUESTIONS 347

PREPARING FOR ASSESSMENT 349

APPENDIX A: ABBREVIATION SYMBOLS ASND CODES 351

APPENDIX B: HEALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE (HSE)

APPENDIX C: ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS 357

GLOSSARY OF TERMS 359

INDEX 369
2
3
4
5
6
 6

All workplaces employing five or more people had to display the type of poster shown in Fig. 1.3 after 30 June 2000.

To promote adequate health and safety measures the employer must consult with the employees’ safety representatives.
In companies which employ more than 20 people this is normally undertaken by forming a safety committee which is made
up of a safety officer and employee representatives, usually nominated by a trade union. The safety officer is usually
employed full-time in that role. Small companies might employ a safety supervisor who will have other duties within the
company, or alternatively they could join a ‘safety group’. The safety group then shares the cost of employing a safety
adviser or safety officer, who visits each company in rotation. An employee who identifies a dangerous situation should
initially report to his site safety representative. The safety representative should then bring the dangerous situation to the
notice of the safety committee for action which will remove the danger. This may mean changing company policy or
procedures or making modifications to equipment. All actions of the safety committee should be documented and recorded
as evidence that the company takes its health and safety policy seriously.

The Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 (formerly Electricity Supply Regulations 1989)

The Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 are issued by the Department of Trade and Industry.
They are statutory regulations which are enforceable by the laws of the land. They are designed to ensure a proper and
safe supply of electrical energy up to the consumer’s terminals.

These regulations impose requirements upon the regional electricity companies regarding the installation and use of
electric lines and equipment. The regulations are administered by the Engineering Inspectorate of the Electricity Division
of the Department of Energy and will not normally concern the electrical contractor, except that it is these regulations which
lay down the earthing requirement of the electrical supply at the meter position.

The regional electricity companies must declare the supply voltage and maintain its value between prescribed limits or tolerances.

The government agreed on 1 January 1995 that the electricity supplies in the United Kingdom would be harmonized with
those of the rest of Europe. Thus the voltages used previously in low-voltage supply systems of 415 V and 240 V have
become 400 V for three-phase supplies and 230 V for single-phase supplies. The permitted tolerances to the nominal
voltage have also been changed from ± 6% to + 10% and − 6%. This gives a voltage range of 216– 253 V for a nominal
voltage of 230 V and 376– 440 V for a nominal supply voltage of 400 V.

The next proposed change is for the tolerance levels to be adjusted to ± 10% of the declared nominal voltage
(IET Regulation, Appendix 2: 14).
7
The frequency is maintained at an average value of 50 Hz over 24 hours so that electric clocks remain accurate.

Regulation 29 gives the area boards the power to refuse to connect a supply to an installation which in their opinion
is not constructed, installed and protected to an appropriately high standard. This regulation would only be enforced
if the installation did not meet the requirements of the IET Regulations for Electrical Installations.

The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (EWR)

This legislation came into force in 1990 and replaced earlier regulations such as the Electricity (Factories Act) Special
Regulations 1944. The regulations are made under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and enforced by the
Health and Safety Executive. The purpose of the regulations is to ‘require precautions to be taken against the risk of
death or personal injury from electricity in work activities’.

Section 4 of the EWR tells us that ‘all systems must be constructed so as to prevent danger …, and be properly
maintained … Every work activity shall be carried out in a manner which does not give rise to danger … In the case
of work of an electrical nature, it is preferable that the conductors be made dead before work commences.’

The EWR do not tell us specifically how to carry out our work activities and ensure compliance, but
if proceedings were brought against an individual for breaking the EWR, the only acceptable defence would be ‘to prove
that all reasonable steps were taken and all diligence exercised to avoid the offence’ (Regulation 29).

An electrical contractor could reasonably be expected to have ‘exercised all diligence’ if the installation was wired
according to the IET Wiring Regulations (see p. 13). However, electrical contractors must become more ‘legally
aware’ following the conviction of an electrician for manslaughter at Maidstone Crown Court in 1989. The court
accepted that an electrician had caused the death of another man as a result of his shoddy work in wiring up a
central heating system. He received a nine-month suspended prison sentence. This case has set an important
legal precedent, and in future any tradesman or professional who causes death through negligence or poor workmanship
risks prosecution and possible imprisonment.

Duty of care

The Health and Safety at Work Act and the Electricity at Work Regulations make numerous references to employer
and employees having a ‘duty of care’ for the health and safety of others in the work environment. In this context the
Electricity at Work Regulations refer to a person as a ‘duty holder’. This phrase recognizes the level of responsibility
which electricians are expected to take on as a part of their job in order to control electrical safety in the work environment.

Everyone has a duty of care, but not everyone is a duty holder. The regulations recognize the amount of control that an
individual might exercise over the whole electrical installation. The person who exercises ‘control over the whole systems,
equipment and conductors’ and is the electrical company’s representative on-site, is the duty holder. He might be a
supervisor or manager, but he will have a duty of care on behalf of his employer for the electrical, health, safety and
environmental issues on that site.

Duties referred to in the regulations may have the qualifying terms ‘reasonably practicable’ or ‘absolute’. If the requirement
of the regulation is absolute, then that regulation must be met regardless of cost or any other consideration. If the regulation
is to be met ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’, then risks, cost, time, trouble and difficulty can be considered.

Definitions
‘Duty holder’ – this phrase recognises the level of responsibility which electricians are expected to take on as part of
their job in order to control electrical safety in the work environment.
Everyone has a duty of care, but not everyone is a duty holder.
The person who exercises control over the whole systems, equipment and conductors and is the electrical company’s
electrical representative on-site is a duty holder.
Reasonably practicable or absolute – if the requirement of the regulation is absolute, then that regulation must be
met regardless of cost or any other consideration. If the regulation is to be met so far as is reasonably practicable,
then risks, cost, time, trouble, and difficulty can be considered.
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374