Could electrical contractors breach proposed regulations under new Building Safety Act?

The Building Safety Act 2022 gained Royal Assent in May.  It introduces sweeping changes to building regulations over the next few years.  I was honoured to address the Fire Safety Event at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham to talk about the impact the of changes.  

From the crowds attending my talks, I could see people are waking up to a changing world where everyone must prove they can do the job.  Grandfather rights are a thing of the past.

The Building Safety Act is stage one of legislation changes.  Phase two will bring in secondary legislation such as the snappy titled Building (Appointment of Persons, Industry Competence and Dutyholders) (England) Regulation (2021).  This is known as the ‘Dutyholder Regulations’.

‘Dutyholders’ will carry far more responsibility.  They must ensure anyone appointing a ‘Principal Designer’, ‘Principal Contractor’, or other person who carries out building or design work, will take all reasonable steps to ensure the appointee meets the competency requirements.  Appointees are under a duty to inform the client if they no longer satisfy a competency requirement.

In a nutshell, The Building (Appointment of Persons, Industry Competence and Dutyholders) (England) Regulations imposes a general competency requirement to ensure any person carrying out building or design work has the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours necessary.

I agree with Dame Judith Hackitt who said recently, industry should do this because it’s the right thing to do, not because its legislated.

In a recent search of electrical companies 1200 list who carry out fire alarm and detection work, only 200 of these list ‘Third Party Approval’ for fire systems.  So, are they competent to design, install and commission fire systems?

The British Standard BS 5839 states a competent person working to that standard is a:

Person with the relevant current training and experience, and with access to the requisite tools, equipment and information, and capable of carrying out a defined task.  (Competent person clause 3.12)

When we re-wrote the competency clause 3.12, standard change at BSI in 2013, we discussed in detail the implication of the above statement.  We agreed ‘relevant current training ’means; current standard (BS 5839-1:2017) training, training and knowledge of the equipment you are working with experience working on the said equipment and supervised by a person who has such experience.  Finally, you need the requisite tools and equipment to carry out the task.  For example, the smoke test equipment specified by the manufacturer, rather than a blow torch.

The question I want to pose is ‘Does the electrician, with a normal electrical training have the above?’ Often the answer is no.  An electrician may have done the electrical City & Guilds, 18^th edition and even the AM 2, but very rarely does this include training on BS 5839.  However, Clause 560.10 in the wiring regs BS 7671 states “fire alarm and detections systems shall comply with the relevant parts of BS 5839”.

The time is now for electrical contractors to gain the right training and qualifications to prove competence in fire alarm and detection.