Electrical Drawings

[Rutts35]

Question for my esteemed colleagues. I've been asked by my boss if there is a legal requirement to have up to date electrical drawings for site. As a printing factory we have a wealth of machine drawings for the control panels. We have installation drawings contractors have provided when installing cables. We don't keep drawings for installs we do. They are all simple installs. Mainly machine radials. Usually nothing big either. I told him that apart from the EAWR there aren't any legal electrical documents or requirements that affect us. Other than complying with BS 7671 when we install I don't see what else we need to do. Any thoughts? Ta

 

[Tony S]

OK turn it around, for my safety “do I need up to date drawings?”

Any plant will have revisions to machine operation and therefore the up or down stream safe coordination.

Done properly, any revision that may have a knock on effect to other machines will be assessed, recorded and acted upon.

Bottom line

UPDATE DRAWINGS

 

[Sharpend]

 Pretty sure @Sidewinder will be able to give you a definitive answer. 

 

[Andy™]

im guesing this is drawing for the electrical installation and not the machines. would be best keeping them updated, at least if someone else comes along they can refer to them if required. no point having inaccurate, out of date drawings

 

[Rutts35]

Yeah. I'm referring to installation drawings. Our machine drawigs are all update. To be fair any installation drawings we have are update. Its more around future installs. I know they'd be simple drawings but should we making installation drawings jf they aren't actually needed to complete the job in the first place. I know it's pro ably good practice but are there any legal constraints?

 

[Tony S]

Legally I’m not sure, ethically you should.

I’ve been on plants where the drawings were nonexistent.

Fault finding time = T².

T being the length of a piece of string measured in time.

 

[Rob.]

Machine drawings = yes, need to be kept up to date.

electrical circuits to BS7671 = No, not legally. However, definitly a nice to have. 

 

[Evans Electric]

Perhaps possibly for your own protection  ,  as you say , fairly simple additional m/c supplies .

A spark would look at it , think 4 core X 6mm  SWA  , 32A TP  MCB  type C   no need to write it all down .    I wouldn't TBH.       I'm not a fan of excessive form filling etc TBH  but .... you could get a scenario where a contractor makes dodgy alterations to your system ...    removes earth connection   say .. brown stuff hits fan ...he decides to deny all knowledge  , it was already like that  , wasn't me guv . etc   .  

You could at least produce test results from the install to show it was done correctly in the first place . 

Rear waste product orifices need to be covered these days. 

 

[Rutts35]

We test everything and keep the results. I think I was being asked from a  legal standpoint. I didn't think there is anything that applies. It's looking, from the replies, that good practice and rear end covering means we should do it. 

 

[Evans Electric]

Probably is these days ,  Sidey will know .    There is another angle to it ,  I used to do a lot of work in the printing trade  and can remember Heidelberg  specifying  the supply cable sizes .     I mentioned it to the manager of one company , saying it was twice the size  for the current rating of that m/c . 

He said if they are commissioning  and they noticed we'd ignored their spec . they were likely to walk or to blame any problems on volt drop etc   and may  reduce the value of any guarantees etc.   

Just do as they ask  was the  order of the day .   

 

[Spoon]

When we give drawings out for installing equipment into factories, if there are any alterations on site, due to unseen factors, then the drawing is marked up and we update them and send them back to the customer.

Some customers just mark up and changes to the drawings but do not send them back to us.

I don't think there is a legal issue to having up-to-date drawings, it's just nice to have drawings to how the equipment is installed.

 

[Rutts35]

Thanks for the replies. Unless zxiey chips in on looks like is good pea rice rather than a legal requirement. 

 

[Sidewinder]

Machine drawings must be updated (EAWR, PUWER, MHSWR), also if machinery is CE marked, then if you change it you (your employer) take on the liability as the manufacturer for the whole machine.

As far as installations drawings go, they can be interpreted as a requirement under EAWR & MHSWR, also, then there is the requirement under CDM for records.

So, I would be going down the road of saying that they need to be there.

 

[Rutts35]

Cheers sidey. Machine drawings control drawings are all good. I'll make the recommendations as appropriate.