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Getting connection right

Published on April 5^th 2011, 9:00am

This death has been seen to provide ample validation of a key change in the new regulations governing the checking of work prior to connection and the increased onus on electricians and inspectors to make sure an installation is absolutely safe before handing it over to be livened.

Most of the safety checks were already required in the previous regulations but they have been structured more clearly into three distinct stages with particular emphasis on the third stage now covered in regulation 73 – connecting installations.

This restructuring has shifted the focus more on the verifi cation of the safety of electrical installation work all the way to the final connection being carried out by people engaged by the owner of the premises, and less on the network company having to check matters such as polarity as under the previous regime.

In grappling with this change, electrical contractors have had to take a close look at what constitutes ‘connection’ and much of the assumption has been that it means ‘livening’ as it appeared to under much of the old regime.

Questions have also arisen over how some of the safety verifications required in regulation 73 are to be carried out and whether additional testing and inspection is required. This new regulation covers all installation work including the addition of new subcircuits to an existing installation.

Multiple checks
ElectroLink published a flow chart timeline of the three stages in the new verifi cation process on page 16 of the May issue last year. These stages also reflect the level of risk involved with specific types of prescribed electrical work (PEW).

Preparatory to installation work commencing is the requirement to hold a design declaration so the installer knows which Part of AS/NZS 3000 he is to install to. For most simple, low risk work he can declare the design pathway, carry out the installation work and test, certify and connect it without involving another person.

The first safety verification stage of the installation involves checking, testing and certification and all of that is prescribed in the regulations largely as before.

To deal with greater risks where safety is more critical, a second stage of checking is required to be carried out independently. An inspector has to verify the compliance of mains work, medical electrical locations, hazardous areas and the entirety of a Part 1 installation.

The third stage is preparatory to connection. Under the new regime this level of checking can be carried out by the installer, the inspector, a line mechanic or any other person authorised by the EWRB. It involves additional testing, visual examination, checking and the sighting of declaration and certification documents.

Energy Safety principal technical advisor Peter Morfee says this third layer of checking is necessary because of the extreme but mercifully infrequent consequences of failure and because at this time the actual connection is physically completed.

“The MEN system we have in New Zealand is safe only if the polarities of both the supply system and the installation are correct and the connections of the neutral are reliable.

“This is why polarity testing and earthing verifi cation are absolutely critical and are repeated as requirements for the installer, inspector and also the person making the connection to the electricity supply.”

What is connecting?
While regulation 73 details the checks the ‘connecter’ has to carry out there has been considerable debate as to what connection actually is. It is not specifi cally defined in the legislation, but schedule 1 of the new regulations which defines PEW includes connecting and goes a long way to defining it in the absence of a definition in the interpretation section up front.

Morfee says because connecting or making a connection is PEW it can only be carried out by an authorised person such as an electrician, inspector, line mechanic or a competent person working under an employer licence.

Livening on the other hand is not PEW so anyone can do it and this makes it clear that livening and connecting are now two different things. The problem is, livening is not recognised in the regulations as a distinct activity in order to separate it from connecting and Morfee says the demarcation is going to be addressed in the regulation amendment currently being worked on.

With the regulations treating livening as non-PEW, he says connecting is the last act of prescribed electrical work or the wiring in of the final means by which the installation can then be livened.

So where does connecting occur, who does it, and who has to carry out the checks required by regulation 73?

“Connecting can occur at various points in an installation and its linkage to works, and it depends on what is the last part to be completed. It could be the connection to a fuse holder on a pole, it could be the termination of a completed installation at the consumer side of the junction box or the termination on the network side, it could be the hanging of the meter – whichever is the last act of PEW that allows livening of the installation or the part of it that has been worked on.”

He says because livening is a switching function, and switching on a supply is something anyone is allowed to do, the insertion of a pole fuse is an act of livening and cannot be treated as connecting because it is not PEW.

Under the new system the enforcement focus has shifted more to the connection requirements as this is where safety is seen to pivot. While connecting is PEW, it does not require certification. So even though it is seen to be the highest point of risk in an installation, carrying out a connection is outside the scope of the certification regime. Morfee says this is because connecting requires the verification of the completed certifications to be carried out prior to connection.

This includes checking installation CoCs and meter declarations. The connecter does not have to issue any document to verify he has met the requirements for connection and complied with regulation 73.

However, this increased responsibility on the installation sector doesn’t let the network owner off the hook. A line mechanic or inspector working for the network company could find themselves having to carry out these responsibilities just as readily as an electrician working for the owner of the premises.

Also under the Electricity Act, electricity cannot be supplied to any works or installation unless the supplier is satisfied that any inspection and certification required has been carried out.

While this is a far lower verification of the safety of the installation than the checks made by the connecter, it does provide a rudimentary fourth stage check and locks in certification as a prerequisite for supply. It also creates an obligation not to supply an unsafe installation.

Check or test?
Where it starts to get interesting is applying this to current practice and how the third check requirements consolidated under regulation 73 are met by the various people involved in works, installations, inspections, connections and livening.

Waikato inspector Ian Turner provides inspection services for electrical contractors and end-users and also carries out livening work for his local lines company. He has looked at the new verification requirements from all sides.

When the new connection requirements came in he developed a methodology for compliance with regulation 73 but when he put it in place issues arose with some of his customers and in certain situations access to premises became a problem.

He wrote to Energy Safety last year identifying problems and proposing a solution. Morfee says Turner’s constructive input provided a benchmark for consideration and from which amendments to the regulations could be devised.

Morfee says clarification that the person doing the livening does not carry the obligations of the person doing the connecting is a key step.

“The livener doing the switching just has to check documents, the connecter must check the installation as well as the certifications. “Any danger such as cross polarity is created by the connection, not the livening.”

He says the connection requirements are designed so that some risks can be managed by sighting documents while others have to be physically carried out.

“The safety of the last connection is not something you can rely on certification for because it occurs outside of it. You must carry out the connection check and make sure those two wires are the right way round because only then can it be safe.”

Morfee says nothing in regulation 73 should require the connecter to go into a house. The CoC can be left certifying it’s safe to connect and tests can be carried out at the meter box, mains entry box, pillar or up the pole.

“Sighting certification that the installation is MEN is an acceptable basis to ensure it is compatible with the supply. Similarly sighting certification that there is a main earthing system is acceptable and the connecter does not have to test it to verify it.

Morfee says the regulations will be amended so that current requirements that lean more to livening or to connection can be appropriately addressed and connection, disconnection and reconnection are clearly defined.

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