Posted By Joe Ridley
Hi there,

I work for a leisure company and have recently had one of our swimming pools surveyed in terms of electrical installation. The manager had a visit from the contractor who carried out this survey and he advised that work was required as a matter or urgency under something called a "GRADE 1 safety" or something similar, what does this mean?

Also he indicated a part of the installation was dangerous and the area it was in was at high risk not only from the electrics, but also water penetration to the electrics from a leak in the roof. I should point out people are required to go into this area as it forms part of the pool plant system. There is also the potential for a fire to start and the manager was also informed the electrics could fault and the subsequent effect could feedback to the main switch board in the reception area where anything could happen.

I am about to advise that the centre be closed until the repairs can be carried out, would this be the right course of action?

Thanks

Joe

Posted By Paul Adams
Joe,
If you work for a leisure company why does your e-mail address ends in ...gov.uk.

Posted By Ken Taylor
Is this stuff on a signed inspection and testing report from an NICEIC registered contractor? If the pool plantroom is really unsafe to enter it would not be possible to operate the pool as there would be no safe access to the controller, daytanks, etc. If it's just water falling onto electrics can this be diverted until a repair can be carried out? I would expect RCD protection to conductive surfaces in potentially wet areas such as plant rooms and the pool hall should already conform to the special provisions in the IEE Regs. Perhaps the contractor could describe the situation more precisely to you?

Posted By MungoDundas
Evening, I’ll chuck in my 2d,

Probably your electrical installation has been unsafe for some time [and no one has been hurt], just nobody noticed. Now it’s been looked at you can’t ignore the report.

The electrical inspector has felt justified in classifying some observations as “1”. The IEE recommend that such matters be addressed without delay. Some times you really have to shout loud to be heard by the accountants to get necessary repairs moving.

Get the electrical inspector to come and meet you on site sharpish and show you the problems, and then ask him if he would let his children use your pool or work their on a summer job. That should let you gauge the actual level of risk.

If you’ve time, visit http://www.iee.org/Publish/WireRegs/Forms_2004.pdf

and plough through to page 20, Periodic Inspection Reports - Guidance for Recipients.

Establish if some straightforward actions may reduce the risk considerably, try to negotiate with the electrical company to quote you an hourly labour rate and % uplift on nett cost of materials, and then let them get these works underway soonest. If you can be shown to take reasonable steps; balancing safety vs. your pool users’ needs vs your organisations financial climate I’d guess you’d be in the right area .

Subsequently, you can form a plan to deal with the difficult Grade 1s and thereafter the Grade 2, Grade 3 and finally Grade 4 [if ever]. It’s sort of like if the Wiring Regs were the 30mph speed limit: – Grade 1 = 60mph, Grade 2 = 37mph, Grade 3 = 33mph, Grade 4 = 20mph. Local circumstances dictate how inappropriate these speeds really are.

Maybe you could persuade your Building Manager to seek quotations to institute a programme addressing the Grade 2 & 3 items over a suitable financial time period.

If you are unsure of the original electrical inspector, try to get a copy of the report and call a second NICEIC electrician to view the code ‘1’ items, just to confirm that there is no nonsense afoot.

Sometimes rigging up polythene sheeting to divert the water leak is as effective as spending £1000 shifting the distribution board outwith normal hours (pending the roofing repair budget being sanctioned). Adding a 30mA RCD can help reduce the risk of fire due to low resistance earth leakage on a hairy old fuseboard circuit.