I really can't understand why people get upset about NICEIC having "higher" standards than BS7671.
ANY BS, or EN, or whatever, lays down minimum standards for things. As long as the product/service/whatever meets those minimum standards, it is allowed to call itself compliant with BS or EN etc.
Why does a minimum standard have to also be a maximum?
Part L lays down minumum standards for thermal insulation, heat loss etc. Imagine a housebuilder, let's call then Cozywarm Ltd, who started building houses with triple glazed windows, airlock doors, massive insulation, heat exchangers etc, and manged to get their thermal efficiency to several times that required by law.
Who would take offence if Cozywarm advertised the virtues of their standards? Which of you would scoff and say "Heat exchangers which extract 90% of the energy from waste water? Who the **** do Cozywarm think they are? It doesn't say that in the building regs. Oh and look - triple glazed windows! Which regulation says you have to have those? It's ridiculous, they're a bunch of w****rs, they don't write the Building Regs."
I'm sorry, but anybody who thinks like that is pathetic. You cannot criticise an organisation for having standards which exceed the legal minimum.
Regarding JBs under the floorboards, does anybody have any evidence that a NICEIC registered inspector has ever failed an installation because of them?
If NICEIC think they are a Bad Thing then NICEIC are entitled to require that their registered contractors do not do it, and they are entitled to interpret an imprecisely worded regulation how they see fit when it comes to establishing their best practices and training people.
Of course they are in many ways an arrogant organisation, and of course they are out to increase their sphere of influence, but so what? Do you think that the NVH engineers for Mercedes wouldn't be a tad arrogant, or keen on asserting Mercedes' superiority in a discussion with their unified colleagues from Trabant? Do you think that it is wrong for Renault to use their better-than-required-by-law NCAP rating to sell cars?
Should MK stop making sockets that can carry 20A because BS1363 says they only have to handle 13A?
Planeman - next time you speak to the senior regional NICEIC engineer, ask him if he would actually fail an installation for JBs under floorboards. And if he says "yes", ask him how far he would persist with that view if the owner of the installation demanded to see the BS7671 regulation which prohibited them and referred him to the dictionary for a definition of accessible. I'm pretty sure that at some point he would start shuffling his feet and saying that he couldn't actually fail it.
But there is nothing wrong with an organisation seeking to implement higher standars than the legal min.
ANY BS, or EN, or whatever, lays down minimum standards for things. As long as the product/service/whatever meets those minimum standards, it is allowed to call itself compliant with BS or EN etc.
Why does a minimum standard have to also be a maximum?
Part L lays down minumum standards for thermal insulation, heat loss etc. Imagine a housebuilder, let's call then Cozywarm Ltd, who started building houses with triple glazed windows, airlock doors, massive insulation, heat exchangers etc, and manged to get their thermal efficiency to several times that required by law.
Who would take offence if Cozywarm advertised the virtues of their standards? Which of you would scoff and say "Heat exchangers which extract 90% of the energy from waste water? Who the **** do Cozywarm think they are? It doesn't say that in the building regs. Oh and look - triple glazed windows! Which regulation says you have to have those? It's ridiculous, they're a bunch of w****rs, they don't write the Building Regs."
I'm sorry, but anybody who thinks like that is pathetic. You cannot criticise an organisation for having standards which exceed the legal minimum.
Regarding JBs under the floorboards, does anybody have any evidence that a NICEIC registered inspector has ever failed an installation because of them?
If NICEIC think they are a Bad Thing then NICEIC are entitled to require that their registered contractors do not do it, and they are entitled to interpret an imprecisely worded regulation how they see fit when it comes to establishing their best practices and training people.
Of course they are in many ways an arrogant organisation, and of course they are out to increase their sphere of influence, but so what? Do you think that the NVH engineers for Mercedes wouldn't be a tad arrogant, or keen on asserting Mercedes' superiority in a discussion with their unified colleagues from Trabant? Do you think that it is wrong for Renault to use their better-than-required-by-law NCAP rating to sell cars?
Should MK stop making sockets that can carry 20A because BS1363 says they only have to handle 13A?
Planeman - next time you speak to the senior regional NICEIC engineer, ask him if he would actually fail an installation for JBs under floorboards. And if he says "yes", ask him how far he would persist with that view if the owner of the installation demanded to see the BS7671 regulation which prohibited them and referred him to the dictionary for a definition of accessible. I'm pretty sure that at some point he would start shuffling his feet and saying that he couldn't actually fail it.
But there is nothing wrong with an organisation seeking to implement higher standars than the legal min.
