Statutory Instrument 1994 No. 1768 The additional terminology of "ordinarily intended for domestic use" may have been an unfortunate use of words that have clouded the issue rather than clarify the definition. (they only do it to give newsgroups something to talk about)
Certainly the interpretation that is enforced by the bodies responsible for implementing this legislation in the UK is that it applies to any product that meets the criteria for plugging into a 13 amp socket. Because the Statutory Instrument is a UK law it would override anything written in standards. Standards are guidance documents. Industrial equipment installation is governed by a different group of wiring regulations employing normally round pin plugs with sockets radially wired. Electricians or trained service personnel (in the UK) should be installing equipment in the industrial environment to ensure safety in application. Grouping products by their 'potential' market is no longer viable as the 'layman' (layperson) can buy anything through Discount Outlets, mail order, trade catalogues, the Internet and direct from the manufacturer . If the 'layman' has only 13 Amp sockets in the household or commercial environment then supplying a product with a correctly fitted certified and fused plug has to be a major contribution to safety in the field and pays back many times its cost by minimizing a manufacturers liability. As my mentor from our days at Digital Equipment Corp., Bob Johnson commented on this subject, along similar lines. If you purchased a new PC to use in the office and found it not to have a plug fitted, you would feel no customer satisfaction from having to source and fit a plug before you could 'play'. In the current commercial environment, the potential for a 'layman' to connect something up incorrectly and put mains voltage on a network connection in not a risk worth contemplating. Regards. Eric Monk Technical Director. E M Consulting Ltd. Information is given in good faith based on a lifetime in Electrical Engineering but no responsibility can be accepted for judgements taken based on the information provided. ***** Your best support in "TESTING" situations ***** ***** INTERTest Systems UK ***** ***** International Product Certification ***** ***** ONE-STOP-SHOP for ALL testing ***** ***** PO Box 321 - Bucks HP9 1XJ - England ***** ***** ++44 (0)1494 673438 Fax 678868 ***** ***** INTERTest Systems UK is the trading name of ***** ***** the test laboratory of E M Consulting Ltd. ***** --------- This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to [email protected] with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the quotes). For help, send mail to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected] (the list administrators).
